Chibis
by CrimsonStrawberry17
Summary: While looking for a spell to give Yami a physical body, Yugi accidentally triggers a curse in an old tome. A curse that turns both he and Yami into CHIBIS! My first chapter story.
1. Accidents

Disclaimers: I think by now everyone knows that people writing fanfiction doesn't own whatever it is they're writing. And trust me, if I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, 4kids would have never got their censoring hands on yugioh, and it would have been aired in America as a English subbed rated T show in its orignal Japanese version, including season zero. Honda/Tristian would not be such a dork. Yugi would not be always wearing his stupid school uniform. I mean, he changes out of that attire only two times in the entire five seasons. Seriously, everyone else gets a wardrobe change and Yugi doesn't? Oh, and Yami's eyes would be crimson instead of violet, like in season zero. But as that is not true, I think we can safely say I don't own either the manga or anime. Excuse my ranting and continue on with the fic which is much more interesting than my drabble.

Author's Note: There are no Millennium Items in this fic, and it is set after the Cermonial Duel. Yami decided to stay instead of passing on to the Afterlife. Bakura is still around, but is nicer as Zorc is no longer around. Personally, I think Zorc was the whole reason he was a mental cased bastard. Don't worry, he's still a cussing bastard, but he had no murderous tendenices towards Ryou or the gang. Yugi's parents do not exist as I know nothing about them. Also, I will be using Japanese names in this fic, so for those who don't know:

Tristian = Honda

Grandpa = Jii-chan, but he will also be called "grandpa."

Duke = Otogi

Tea = Anzu

Joey = Jou or Jounochi

Ryou Bakura be always be Ryou

Yami Bakura/Thief will always be either Bakura, Tomb Robber, or Thief. Ryou will also refer to him as 'yami,' but it will always be lowercased.

Yami Yugi = Yami, or he may be called Pharaoh, and any nickname Bakura decides to call him. Such as "royal pain in the ass."

Seto Kaiba = Seto Kaiba, or "Nii-sama" and "Big Brother" by Mokuba.

Mokuba Kaiba = Mokuba Kaiba, or "Mokie" as a pet name.

Warnings: Cussing. OC villian (in later chapters). Naked chibis. (Not in that way, you perverts!) Yaoi. Magic! Wait, does magic need to be included in a warning? Hmm. *Wanders off to ponder this random thought*

Yami: Ignore her and read on!

Yugi: Yami! Don't order them around! *Turns adorable chibi eyes on readers.* Please read!

Yami: Yeah, because blackmailing them with chibi eyes is _so_ much better.

* * *

_Chapter One: __Accidents_

* * *

Yugi sneezed for the umpteenth time as he searched through the piles of ancient scrolls and leather volumes scattered about his room. Ishizu had sent them to him a few weeks ago, in hopes he could find a spell to give Yami a physical body.

Ishizu was searching through her own pile back in Egypt; they had just decided the search would go quicker if more than one was looking. Which was why some had been sent to Ryou and Bakura, promising to grant the thief his own body if he helped out. He was just glad his grandfather was away for a few weeks on another archeological dig with Arthur Hawkins.

It was several weeks after the Ceremonial Duel, and instead of leaving for the afterlife, Yami decided he could wait a few more decades before returning to his true family. Bakura was on friendlier terms with everyone now that Zorc was gone.

Yami had also set free the souls that had been sacrificed in the making of the Millennium Items, ensuring no one could ever use the Items for harm, but also making the former Tomb Robber forgive him somewhat.

Yugi still thought it was unfair that Bakura blamed Yami for the death of his village when it had been his Uncle behind Yami's father's back, but Yami had waved it all aside, claiming that because it had been his Uncle and therefore a blood relation, that he bore some of the weight. Yami's calm acceptance of this seemed to gain him a little respect from the thief so Yugi didn't argue against this logic.

But now that the Items were gone, things were a lot more peaceful than before, and things seemed to be looking up. Kaiba had even admitted to Yugi being the true king of games and accepted magic and the yamis, and the CEO was more open to them. He still was an arrogant bastard that had an obsession with wanting to duel Yugi, or Yami more specifically, and Yugi didn't mind as it gave Yami something to do.

Speaking of Yami . . . .

He glanced over to where the transparent form of his dark hovered by his bed, scanning a scroll Yugi had unrolled for him. With the Millennium Items gone, Yami and Bakura had taken full residence in their hikaris' bodies. This of course meant that they could no longer stray as far as they used to from their hosts.

Yami claimed he didn't mind much, but the way the spirit casually waved it away only made Yugi more determined to help Yami gain physical form. It didn't matter if that physical form was a permanent form, or a form he could only remain in for small amounts of time. As long as Yami could interact with the physical world with a means separate from Yugi himself, the hikari didn't care.

He almost dropped the cup of tea he picked up when his world suddenly spun around him and he was no longer in his room but a sea of sand rolling on endlessly ahead of him. He found his 'head' turning up to the cloudless blue sky as a screech rent the hot sandy air, his arm lifting against his will.

Gold gleamed on his arm in the form of bracelets as a bronzed hand adorned with a gold ruby studded ring shielded his eyes from the harsh sun. The screech came again, and a falcon swooped into his vision, spiraling lazily down to him. His other arm, covered in a thick leather cuff, lifted, and the falcon landed obediently on it.

His vision spun out of focus again and he glanced over to Yami as he realized what had just happened. "Another memory returning?" he asked him, and the spirit nodded distractedly, his mind thousands of years away. Or namely, in his memories.

Ever since the yami had freed the souls from the Millennium Items, and therefore permanently blocking access to the Shadow Realm to everyone except for Yami and the tomb robber who had personal connections with the realm. . . Yami's memories had slowly been returning.

They never knew when Yami would receive another one. They came randomly, and in little bits and pieces. Sometimes Yami had piece together fragments to understand a whole memory, but Ishizu had assured them that this was normal after having sealed them away for so long.

He stifled another sneeze as he bent down and picked up another leather bound volume half covered by scrolls. Unfortunately, this particular book had been partly lodged under another a rather tall stack of more volumes, causing them all to tumble down onto him.

"Yugi!" Yami cried and Yugi groaned as he tried to push the books off of him, only to have another book suddenly fall onto his head. The red leather bound book gleamed as it fell open in his lap and Yugi gave a surprised scream as red light exploded outwards from the book, encasing both he and Yami in it.

* * *

Jou tapped his fingers against his arms from where they were crossed against his chest. "Where the heck is he? He was supposed to be here almost an hour ago!"

Ryou laid a placating hand on his shoulder. "Relax, he might have been held up by something. Jii-chan is on a dig and he had to take care of himself and the shop."

Anzu peered closer at the young British teen, frowning. There had been a worried tone hidden beneath his calm, and something told her that white haired hikari knew more than he was letting on. "Ryou? Is there something you're not telling us?" she asked, making the three other members of the group turn to look at him, causing the shy teen to blush.

"W-well . . . Bakura did say something about feeling a strange flash of magic. It didn't feel harmful to him, and if it was, he said the Pharaoh could have handled it alone."

"What? And you didn't feel the need to tell us before?" Honda demanded before taking off down the street to the Game Shop. The others followed him; waving away Ryou's stammering apologies. They pushed their way through the crowds, calling out apologies as people yelled after them, trying not to think of anything bad that could have happen to their friend.

Once there, Jou used the key Yugi had given him for emergencies, and entered the house through the back door which was in the living room. "Yugi?" he called, receiving no answer as he walked up the stairs towards their smallest friend's bedroom.

"_Yuuugi_," Jou called again, peering into rooms as he passed them. Nothing seemed amiss, no signs of a break in or some evil villain after Yami. He finally reached Yugi's bedroom door and felt Honda and Otogi move in beside him, just in case.

"Yugi?" he asked once more as he opened the door and peered cautiously. "Whoa. It's a mess in here. Are these the scrolls and stuff Ishizu sent?" he asked Ryou, stepping carefully into the room. The part albino nodded, picking up some and placing them in a nearby crate to make more room for them all.

"Look!" Anzu cried out suddenly, and everyone whirled to look at where she was pointing. A pile of Yugi's clothes lay in a lumpy pile amongst a pile of old leather bound books. But that wasn't what caught their attention. It was the fact that the clothes were _moving_.

Jou picked up a thick book from off the ground and edged closer to the shifting fabric. He reached down to pull the shirt away when a small thing suddenly popped out from under it and Jou found himself staring into wide amethyst orbs.

"Y-Yugi?" he asked, stunned by the adorable toddler blinking cutely up at him. Something shifted beside him and everyone's mouth dropped in shock. "Oh Kami . . . it's Yami," Otogi breathed as he crouched down to survey the crimson eyed chibi blinking sleepily at them.

Yugi yawned and Anzu near squealed at him, rushing forward and pulling him into her arms, using the shirt to cover him. Yami ignored her and crawled free of the pants, trying to stand, but only falling flat on his face. He got to his knees, rubbing his nose as he looked up at Jou with watery eyes.

The blonde felt a surge of affection for the chibitized Pharaoh and swooped him up, stroking his head gently. Yami cooed and snuggled into his arms, laying his cheek against his shoulder as his hands went up to fiddle with Jou's name tags.

"Umm . . . Yugi mentioned that he had clothes from when he was a small child stored away in his parent's old bedroom. I'll go check," Ryou said, with a slight blush upon seeing Yami naked, even if he was a small child. He could hear Bakura snickering at both Yugi and the Pharaoh's plight and at his modesty in the back of his mind as he hurried out of the room.

True to Yugi's earlier words, there were indeed boxes of child clothing from various periods of Yugi's childhood packed away in the large walk in closet of his old parents' bedroom. To Ryou's relief, the boxes were actually labeled with the ages and he rummaged through the stack to find one labeled three or five, the age he was guessing Yami and Yugi to be now. With them, it was hard to tell by size alone.

He found a box and opened it, nearly sneezing at the dust and making a face as a bunch of silverfish and some spiders scattered as he pulled it out. He could feel Bakura's magic levitating the boxes that had previously been stacked on top of it and gave him a mental thank you as he pulled out a shirt and a pair of pants.

He found everyone downstairs in the living room now, watching Anzu and Jou on the ground helping Yami and Yugi put together a puzzle. They seemed to be doing a good job without their help, and the two teens mostly sat back and watched them put it together.

Walking over to Yami, who was slightly bigger than Yugi, he held the shirt against him checking the size. It looked like it would fit so he tried not to blush too much as he got the toddler to stand out of the shirt his lower half was wrapped in and held the pants up to him.

He copied the actions on Yugi, just to make sure and went back upstairs after beckoning to Honda. Together, the two of them toted all the boxes labeled '3 years old' and got them into the wash machine. It was an hour and a half later when they all had been through the washer and ready to take out of the dryer.

Jou had phoned Jii-chan and informed him of what happened, but insisted they could take care of Yugi and Yami, and told Jii-chan not to worry or hurry home until his dig was finished. Grandpa was reluctant at first, but decided that he would stay, but only if they called if _anything_ went wrong. Meaning if some maniac tried to take over the world again, he was coming home to help figure out how to turn Yami and Yugi back to normal.

Yugi giggled the whole time they were putting the freshly washed clothes on him but Yami didn't seem to like them. He struggled the whole time they were putting them on and kept giving Jou, who was holding him, teary puppy dog eyes.

The second Jou let him go after they managed to get the clothes on him, he took off, flinging the clothes off himself as he ran. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't catch him; the small chibi was too quick and clever to be. Yami eventually find a hiding place, and although they discovered it after half an hour of searching with Yugi's help, they were unable to fit in the small space to get him out.

Finally, Ryou felt Bakura mentally tap him on the shoulder, the way he usually did when he wanted to take over these days. Exhausted from chasing Yami, Ryou stepped aside and allowed him control.

"You silly bunch of fools," Bakura snickered, before turning around and heading back to the kitchen. He rummaged around for a bit in the cupboards before going to the pantry, finally pulling out a small jar. Everyone blinked when he returned, and eyeing the jar of honey quizzically.

Bakura stepped into Yami's line of sight and waved it in the air, "Oi, your royal highness-ness. Do you know what this is? You remember this don't you?"

Yami stared at it with wide eyes as he crawled from his hiding spot and reached up for it, licking his lips. "Ah ahh ah," Bakura teased, pulling the jar out of reach. "Not until you put your clothes back on and behave."

Yami pouted, looking back and forth between the jar of honey and the pile of clothes that had been placed on the floor when they had been trying to get him out. Bakura crossed his arms and shook the honey, before opening the lid and dipping a finger in the honey and licking it.

Yami whined, before slipping his shirt back on and looking up at Bakura hopefully. The tomb robber ignored him and dipped his finger in the honey again. Yami picked up the pair of blue and green dinosaur underwear he had been given and slipped them on, glancing back up at Bakura who continued to ignore him and dip his finger into the honey for the third time.

The small chibi Pharaoh gave a pout but put on the shorts he had originally been put in, and nearly squealed when Bakura bent down and handed him the honey. But before he could reach it, Bakura pulled it back and scooped him up instead making him whine and squirm in the thief's grasp.

He plopped the boy down on the table and got a piece of bread and a small sauce bowl out, along with a spoon. He spooned a small bit of honey into the bowl and set it into the microwave, warming it, before giving the piece of bread and honey to Yami who cooed in happiness and started dipping pieces of the bread into it.

Through the entire ordeal, all everyone could do was sit and stare at Bakura for this small display of kindness and _affection_. It was just plain weird. Bakura looked up at them and glared when he saw them watching him.

"What the hell are you looking at?" he growled. He froze before his features softened and Ryou blushed as the tomb robber retreated into his soul room. Yami cocked his head at him and pointed.

"Light," he said simply before going back to his honey.

The others glanced at him in surprise and Otogi shrugged. "Guess he can tell the difference between the two of them."

* * *

The next morning, the gang, whom had spent the night at the Game Shop to help keep an eye on the two tri haired chibis decided to take them out to buy some supplies after getting Jii-Chan's permission. Anzu had borrowed her old baby stroller from her mom and was pushing Yugi around in the light blue thing as he seemed to get tired walking.

Yami however, bounced along happily at Jou's side, one hand being held by the older blonde to make sure he didn't run off or get swept up in the crowd. Not to mention Jou was afraid someone would snatch him up as he had already caught several women cooing at Yami and Yugi with a gleam in their eyes.

Of course, he had to admit, the two were practically adorable, especially Yugi with those big amethyst eyes of his. The smaller of the two was even cuter dressed in those green shorts and orange shirt Anzu had dressed him in. Yami had refused to put on such colorful clothes, even with Ryou tempting him with honey like his yami had done last night. Instead, he was wearing a simple white shirt with dark blue shorts with white stripes down the sides.

While Yugi was always giggling and focusing on them or colorful things that caught his eyes, his other was taking in everything, head and eyes roving all over the place. Once, he had stopped and petted a small kitten crouched under a bench and removed a thorn from the pad of its front paw.

How Yami knew that the thorn was there, or that the cat was hurt at all, Jou didn't know. Just as he didn't know why Yami would suddenly yelp and cling to his leg when someone walked by, although sometimes they did look pretty shifty. It made him wonder that as the darker half of Yugi's soul, could the chibi sense darkness or evil?

He's done it before as a spirit, somehow instinctively knowing when something bad was coming. Perhaps he could sense it because of all that time he's spent in the darkness of the puzzle, sitting in a tomb for almost three thousand years before Yugi's grandpa brought him back to Domino. Jou didn't know that either.

He was dragged out of his thoughts as they passed the park and Yami wrenched his hand out of Jou's and took off among the trees making the others scramble after them. Jou, who was more experienced in running in narrow spaces because of his time as a former gang member, soon left the others behind as he followed the sounds of Yami's giggles and a repeated word in what Jou guessed was Ancient Egyptian.

He jerked in surprise and was spurred on even faster as he heard Yami give out a loud yelp, fearing someone was trying to kidnap the chibi Pharaoh. What he didn't expect however, was to find Yami giggling as a familiar tall and muscular blonde held him up in the air with a confused look as a red haired male and a brunette frowned at the small child in Rafael's hands.

"Uh, hi. What are you three doing here?" Jou asked, brushing leaves off him as he stumbled from the trees. Four pairs of eyes turned to him, Yami's eyes brightening as they caught sight of him.

"Jounochi," Rafael said, before glancing at Yami who was now reaching out for Jou. "Do you know this kid?" he asked, still frowning at him.

"Yeah," Jou gave a sheepish grin. "It's a funny story how it happened, but uh . . . that's the Pharaoh."

"WHAT!" the former Doma henchmen nearly gave themselves whiplashes as they turned to stare at Jou before turning back to Yami. Yami cocked his head at them, blinking questionably at them with bright crimson orbs.

"Um, yeah. Yugi got turned into a chibi too, but we don't know how it happened or how to change them back. Ryou's yami thinks Yugi might have triggered a curse in some scroll or book which is how it affected Yami too, but we don't know for sure."

"Scroll? Book? What are you talking about? And who the heck is Ryou?" Amelda asked, confused.

Jou sighed, "Why don't we meet up with the others, and we'll explain things to you. We were heading to Burger World to get a bite to eat anyways. We can talk there."

Rafael nodded and set Yami back on his feet. Yami blinked up at him, a tiny thing compared to his size before peering off into the park. He said the Egyptian word again and nearly ran off again, but Jou grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hauled him into his arms.

"Oh no you don't. You're going to stay right here where I can see you. I don't want you running off where some maniac trying to conquer or destroy the world can snatch you up when you don't know any better."

Yami pouted, squirming in Jou's arms to look the way he tried to run, repeating the foreign word over and over. Jou frowned at him before shrugging and carrying him back towards the others.

"Okay, let me get this straight, Yugi and Yami had scrolls and old tomes sent from this Ishtar person, thinking there might be some kind of spell that would help the Pharaoh get his own body, and Ryou's yami, who is from the Pharaoh's past and basically the reason Yami trapped himself in the Puzzle, thinks they've triggered some curse which is why they both turned into chibis, is that right?" Amelda asked, taking a sip of his drink.

Currently, the group and former Doom members were sitting in the largest booth at Burger World. Yugi was giggling as he kept taking fries from Anzu's plate, whose lap he sat in.

Yami had been in Jou's lap, but he had ducked under the table and tried to run off. Rafael had grabbed him before he could, and the mini-Pharaoh was now doodling strange symbols on the coloring paper provided by the kiddie meal from his lap.

Finally, bored of the symbols, Yami managed to duck under the table before Rafael could snatch him.

"Yami!" Jou dove out the booth and ran after the chibi, nearly crashing into a table and ended up getting his ear grabbed by a waitress who began not so quietly telling him off for running in a restaurant. By the time Jou got away, the tomb robber had already switched with Ryou and caught the escaping toddler. He slipped back into the booth with the Pharaoh and told him something in Ancient Egyptian.

Yami pouted in his lap, but didn't attempt to run off again as Jou came back to the table, red faced after his scolding and holding his abused ear. Bakura snorted at him, pouring salt into his hand and tossing it into the air. Instead of scattering on the table, they hovered in the air, forming patterns.

Everyone else gasped and glanced around, hoping no one had noticed.

"What are you doing? You can't start doing magic in public! Someone will notice!" Otogi hissed, glancing around in panic.

Bakura waved a hand dismissively. "Oh relax. Normal people have a tendency to ignore the abnormal. Besides no one really is paying any attention to us."

Yami poked at the swirling salt, which gleamed crimson before it started moving in a new pattern. Everyone stared as it took on a familiar shape.

"Is that the Blue Eyes White Dragon?" Anzu questioned.

Bakura begin sniggering. "Ha! His little royal pain in the ass still has some affection for that jackass even when he doesn't have his memories! No wonder he ran off earlier! He still has his gifts."

Yami glanced up him, and poked him in the face. "Jackal!" he hissed, before scrambling off the thief's lap and climbing into the relative safety of Rafael's as Bakura sputtered and snarled at him. He almost lunged across the table at the smirking chibi, but at the last second Ryou managed to pull him back.

The gentle hikari blushed and rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. "Um, sorry about that." He winced at a sound no one else could hear. "Apparently, calling someone a _'Jackal'_ is the Ancient Egyptian equivalence of calling someone a . . . er . . . um, anyways, it's an insulting name." His face flushed.

Everyone raised an eyebrow at him, but ignored the incident as Yugi and Yami yawned. Yugi snuggled againt Anzu and promptly fell asleep. Yami was blinking sleepily as he struggled to stay awake.

"We'd better get to the Game Shop and let them sleep," Otogi suggested, glancing down at the slumbering chibi in Anzu's lap next to him. The others nodded and the former Doom members followed them back to the Kame Game Shop, Rafael handing Yami back to Jounochi as the Pharaoh reached for the amber eyed teen.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully I will get the next chapter up soon. There isn't much of a plot in this chapter, except for the barest of hints. The true plot won't come until later chapters. Anyone care to guess what the "gifts" Yami has that Bakura mentioned? Oh, and I made up the whole "Jackal-as-an-insulting-name" thing. I figured as jackals were scavengers and generally seen as bothersome, despite being the sacred symbol of Anubis, it would make sense to use it as an Ancient Egyptian cuss word. Ja ne!


	2. Him

Welcome to Chapter 2 of Chibis!

Disclaimers: I don't own yugioh. I've think we've made that clear.

Warnings: Cussing.

Author's Note: This chapter was starting out light and cheery, despite the importance to the plot it has, but somehow towards the end, it turned a bit angsty. No idea how that came about, and I tried making it lighter after that, but my hands didn't quite cooperate with me. This would have been up sooner but I accidently lost three whole pages of my writing and had to go back and rewrite them. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but it was the best I could do.

[speech] = Ryou

[[speech]] = Bakura

* * *

_Chaper Two: Him_

* * *

"Ah! Yami! Stop that!"

Giggles could be heard as Jou chased a wet and naked chibi around the Mutou home early the next morning. The amber-eyed teen had been helping Ryou give the two chibis a bath, but unlike Yugi who had started playing in the water as soon as Ryou put him in, Yami didn't seem to like baths. Currently, the toddler was doing a very good imitation of a monkey, climbing over objects and climbing up into high places as Jou chased him around the house.

Unfortunately, none of the others were there to help the poor blonde catch the runaway chibi. Anzu had been summoned home by her parents, on account of not telling her parents about the unplanned sleepover. Honda had to go babysit his nephew while his parents went out with his Uncle and Aunt. Otogi had a business to run. Rafael and other former Doom members had returned to their hotel last night.

Ryou lived by himself, so there was nothing to worry about and the soft spoken teen was able to stay over to take care of Yami and Yugi. Jou, whose father was always so drunk, didn't care to return home to the filthy rundown apartment he lived in his father. It's not like the old man would ever get sober enough to notice his son was missing anyway. He could have been lying dead on the floor of the living room and the man wouldn't even notice.

"I got you!" Jou crowed, snatching the escaping Pharaoh as he climbed out from under the table and tried to make a run for the kitchen. The toddler whined and flailed his arms as Jou carried him back upstairs to where Ryou was washing Yugi in the bathroom. The crimson eyed toddler pouted the entire time he was in the tub, glaring at the yellow rubber ducky that floated along in front in him.

Unlike his normal glare, it didn't look anything like a glare should. It only made him more adorable. Yami didn't appreciate it very much when Ryou squealed at how cute he was making that face and pinched his cheek. Jou held back a laugh and wondered what the normal Yami would say if he knew Ryou had reacted like that. As chibis, Yugi and Yami seemed to have forgotten their former selves.

The tomb robber had assured them that they still had their memories. They were just repressed. The thief had suggested it was a side-effect of the spell. That was the other reason, other than taking care of the 'twins' as the gang had dubbed them, that Ryou was here. Bakura was the only other person who could read hieroglyphs and they were trying to find whatever scroll or tome it was that contained the curse.

They had called Ishizu the day before, but unfortunately: she had museum business to oversee somewhere over in America. Marik had done something, Ishizu didn't clarify what, that got him grounded for the next several months and Rishid had to stay to make sure he didn't sneak out from "house arrest." In other words, they were on their own.

Jou lifted Yami out and started towel drying the toddler as Ryou did the same to Yugi. For some reason, Yami had an attachment to the blonde. But Yami liked Rafael too. If it hadn't been the fact that Yami liked Ryou too, Jou would have said he had a partiality for blondes. He didn't see anything in common with all three of them, except for light colored hair. Maybe that was it.

The doorbell rang and the two teens looked up at each other, pausing momentarily in drying off Yami and Yugi.

"Who could that be?" Ryou wondered. Everyone else in the gang had something to do, and shouldn't be coming around until past noon at the least.

Jou shrugged and slipped a shirt over Yami's head. The chibi pouted, but didn't struggle too much as Jou put on the rest of his clothes.

The doorbell rang again and Jou grumbled, wandering downstairs. Whoever it was, they were insistent. For a moment, paranoia took over and his mind conjured up nefarious villains hunting down Yami, but he pushed it away. Just because the guy was impatient did not mean whoever was at the door was an evil maniac after Yami and Yugi.

His reasoning didn't stop him from going to the hallway closest and pulling out a baseball bat before opening the door and peering out. He sighed in relief when he saw the familiar faces of Rafael, Valon, and Amelda. Granted that he didn't _like_ Valon, and they once upon a time _had_ been after the Pharaoh, but it was nice to open the door to a mostly friendly face.

"Well? Aren't you going to let us in ya dumb dog? Valon asked, scowling at him. The brunette seemed to have taken up Kaiba's tendency to call him anything related to a canine.

Jou opened the door, glaring at the brunette as Rafael stepped through the doorway into the kitchen, ignoring Valon's and Jou's glaring match. Amelda sighed and pulled on his friend's arm as he followed Rafael into the house. There was a creak as Jou opened the closet and replaced the bat.

"What were you doing with that?" Amelda scoffed.

Jou shrugged. "After four years of dealing with a bunch of delirious maniacs coming after Yami . . . well, one gets kind of paranoid. Yami's a little kid now, so if anyone starts coming after him now . . . ." the amber eyed teen trailed off. He didn't need to finish. They knew very well what he meant. As a child Yami was virtually defenseless. He wouldn't be able to fight back.

There was a burst of giggling before a multicolored blur latched onto Rafael's leg. "Bennu!"(1)

Rafael frowned down at him. "Bennu? My name's Rafael," the blonde corrected.

Yami shook his head. "Me no say Bennu's name yet. Me likes Bennu more."

The eldest of the males glanced at the others, who shrugged. Rafael ruffled Yami's spiky hair. "Alright, you can call me Bennu, whatever that means."

Ryou appeared a second later, a fully dressed Yugi in his arms. The British-born teen nodded to the newcomers and carried Yugi into the kitchen. Jou managed to pull Yami from Rafael's leg and the rest of them followed Ryou.

"Would you like something?" Ryou offered as he set about making breakfast. There was a clang as he pulled out a large silver frying pan.

The three shook their heads. "We had breakfast at the hotel," Rafael answered. Ryou nodded and gathered a bunch of ingredients from the pantry and fridge.

Jou had left the room a minute ago and came back with several small boxes in his hands. He set one on the table and others on the floor next to his chair as he took a seat across from the former Doom members. Yami immediately grabbed the box and pulled the lid off before dumping its contents onto the table. Jou moved the now empty box down onto the floor with the others and the four occupants at the table watched fascinated as Yugi and Yami started assembling a 1,000 piece puzzle without even looking at the image on the box.

They were over halfway done when Ryou finished cooking and laid down four plates. Jou threw the remaining pieces back in the box and moved the puzzle off to one side, allowing Ryou to set their food on the table. Yami climbed into Jou's lap and Yugi went to Ryou who had taken a seat next to the blonde. Yugi went for the jelly immediately, making Ryou have to pull the jar away so the toddler wouldn't stick his hand inside.

Yami merely started picking fruit off the smaller plate besides Jou's, and poking at the scrambled eggs as though he wasn't sure if it was edible. Upon seeing Jou scarf down his own, he picked up some with his hands. Ryou made him drop it, and handed the chibi a fork. Yami stared at the fork for a long time before taking it. Instead of using it to eat, however, he started carving hieroglyphics into the wooden tabletop, making Ryou yelp and grab the silver utensil from him.

Yami looked at the white haired male curiously, head cocked to one side. Yugi was giggling in Ryou's lap and too late the teen realized Yugi had succeeded in grabbing the jar of jelly and sticking his chubby fingers inside before licking it off. Purple grape jelly was smeared across the toddler's face and all down his shirt. Ryou sighed in defeat.

"I'm going to go wash Yugi off and get him a new shirt." Picking up Yugi, who squealed as the jar was pried away from his sticky hands, he headed out of the room and up the stairs. Yami was staring after them, head turned to one side as he watched the doorway of the kitchen unblinkingly.

Valon noticed the prolonged stare. "Hey, wots you staring at, kid?"

Yami turned to look back at him, before pointing in the direction he had been looking. "Him," he said simply, before going back to his staring. Everyone glanced that way, but saw nothing.

"Er . . ." Jou started. "Who is "him"?"

"Me no know. But me see through him and he look at me. Me lookie at him back."

The group froze, staring at Yami who didn't seem to notice the tensed atmosphere. "Yami? What does he look like?" Rafael prodded.

"Waving. He go back and forth, like this." He moved his upper body from side to side to emphasize what he meant. "He all blurry too."

"And how long has he been there?" Rafael pressed.

"Puzzle. But he go bye-bye now."

"He's gone?" Jou asked.

The chibi nodded before grabbing a piece of pineapple and downing it, making everyone sigh in relief. Yami seeing things was not a good sign. In a normal child, one might dismiss it as him having an imaginary friend or being an attention-seeking child. But this was Yami. He may have been a chibi, but he still had magic. Not only shadow magic, but ever since he learned his name and started recovering his memories, he's had regular Ancient Egyptian magic as well.

If Yami really had seen something, Jou didn't know what to think. Yami had once explained to him that there were things that existed in the world, hidden by a thin layer of magic, that normal people not gifted or trained in the magical arts could not see. Most of the mythical creatures from legends around the world were real, but dismissed as mere fantasy because most people could not see them.

Magical bloodlines had dwindled since Yami's past life as Pharaoh. Most who had magical powers were either believed to be delusional, locked up in a mental hospital, or had been taken in and trained by others similar to themselves. Jou had been surprised to learn that there was magic outside Ancient Egypt and Shadow magic. Among all their running around the world with Shadow Games that he had never once suspected that there might be people with different types of magic out there.

Jou turned back at the sound of someone yelping, only to discover Yami hanging on the counter with Amelda and Valon trying to pry the stubborn chibi off before he fell and hurt himself. Jou stared at the odd scene for a moment, before spotting what Yami was after. He took the jar of honey down from the shelf and Yami immediately let go, causing the two former Swordsmen to crash down onto the ground.

Valon sat up, rubbing his spine as he glowered at Yami. "For a little tyke, you sure got a strong grip." Yami merely blinked at him, feet swaying from the countertop as he happily licked on the spoon Jou had dipped in honey. Jou hid a grin at the indignant look the brunette gave the chibi Pharaoh.

Meanwhile . . .

Ryou pulled a clean shirt from the box they were using as a temporary wardrobe and carried Yugi into the bathroom. Wetting a washcloth, he set about wiping purple jelly off of the giggling chibi. Unlike Yami, the violet eyed toddler sat still on the lid of the toilet seat, which Ryou was grateful for. Yami would have probably run off by now, and so far, Jou seemed to be the only one who was fast enough to catch him. Well, except for his yami.

[[Well duh, I'm a thief. It's important for thieves to be swift and silent. Sure, the royal pain the ass got years and years' worth of training from lessons as a Prince, but it's kinda useless as he's a kid.]] Bakura chimed in, making Ryou jump at the sudden words.

[What do you mean?]

[[I mean all the trainings' he's received was learned in his teenaged form. As a child, everything is off. He's not as strong, or tall, or as heavy as his teenage self. The only thing that's working out in his favor right now is the fact that he's lighter, and in turn faster.]]

[Oh. Okay, I guess. But if he doesn't have his memories . . . ?]

[[His body remembers his training even if his mind does not. After training for so long it's become an instinctual thing. That's how he could read hieroglyphics and speak Ancient Egyptian.]]

[Like stealing is for you?] Ryou asked innocently, switching Yugi's jelly stained shirt for the clean one, and receiving a mental glare from his yami in response. Ryou shook his head, remembering how he had once cowered when that look was directed at him.

He felt a ping of remorse from his darker half and nudged him before he could retreat into his soul room. [Don't. We need you for the translations, remember? If you go off into your soul room and sulk, you're not being any help at all.]

[[I do NOT SULK!]] Bakura snarled, crossing his arms proceeded to do just that. Ryou sweat dropped at his pouting yami. [[I AM NOT POUTING EITHER!]]

[Whatever you say, my dear yami, whatever you say.]

There was silence; then in a nonchalant voice, Bakura said: [[You know, we might not even be able to find the spell.]]

"WHAT!" Ryou shrieked, making Yugi squeal in surprise as he nearly toppled from his perch. Ryou wrapped his arms around the chibi, rocking him softly to calm him down. [What are you talking about, Kura? How can we _not_ find the spell?]

[[What I mean is that some curses in tomes, once activated, vanish from the book until the effects are deactivated.]]

[But why are the bloody curses in them in the first place?]

[[Magicians put curses on their tomes as a type of insurance against another magic user attempting to read their spells or thievery. If it was opened the wrong way, or the person touching it didn't have a "password", per se, the curse would activate automatically. Some curses killed, but most were just minor curses, in case of accidents or if they wanted to keep the trespasser from escaping.]]

Ryou felt a shiver go through him at his yami's words. Yugi and Yami could have been _killed_ by that curse. He pushed the dreadful thought aside. [So then what? If the spell really is gone, how will we know which tome it was? What if it was a scroll?]

[[It wasn't. A spell of that magnitude would not have lasted that long on papyrus. If it had come from a scroll, the curse would have destroyed the scroll already. Such spells only have enough power to affect the cursed one for one to two days.]]

[What does papyrus have to do with anything?]

[[Papyrus becomes brittle after long periods of time, and powerful magic would burn it up in an instant. Magic needs a strong container. Why do you think so many stories feature gems as a magical source? It's because they're one of the strongest container for magic, and can store a lot of energy. Most tomes containing magic were made of stone, leather, and precious metals - such as the Book of the Dead.]]

Ryou thought for a moment. [Is that why Pharaohs had multiple sarcophaguses made of gold and stone? To contain all the magic inscribed on them?]

[[How wonderful, my hikari has a brain. I applaud you.]]

Ryou's cheeks tinged at the sarcastic remark from his darker half and he shut down his side of the link. However, he could still feel Bakura in his soul room, snickering at him. Just when the tomb robber was being helpful, he had to go and be a jerk again. Go figure.

He picked up Yugi and trotted out of the bathroom, tossing the shirt in the hamper, and went back downstairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs . . . the sight that greeted him was _nowhere_ near what he was expecting. In the back of his head, his yami was rolling on the floor with laughter.

The living room was in shambles. The couch was overturned. So was the table, with its decorations scattered randomly across the floor. There were small, chibi sized handprints on the sliding glass doors that led out into the side alley. There was something dark and sticky on the television as well.

But that wasn't what had his yami laughing. It was the positions of the other occupants of the house. Valon was sitting in a kitchen chair on the floor of the living room. Or rather, he was _strapped_ to the kitchen chair, by belts, which was lying on its side on the floor. A belt strapped either of the brunette's ankles to the front legs of the chair. His hands were bound by a third belt and tied awkwardly to one arm of the chair.

The sound of banging and angry cursing alerted Ryou to the fact that someone, possibly Jou judging by the words, was locked inside the hallway closet. Leaving Valon for the moment, Ryou went to have a look in the kitchen. For a second, he thought it was empty.

. . . .Until a loud bout of cussing made him look up.

Poor Amelda was pinned to the ceiling by dozens of kitchen knives and silverware. By now, Bakura was howling with laughter with tears streaking down his face with the force. [[HAHAHAHA! Oi! Ryou, have I ever told you that Yami used to be a prankster back when he was a Prince?]]

[Well, isn't that nice to know? Any other interesting tidbit you'd like to share with me _before_ they happen?] Ryou asked dryly, setting Yugi down in a chair, before stalking back into the living room. Strangely enough, Valon had yet to have made any sound, although he was ungagged and he was clearly conscious. Ignoring him, for the second time that day, he went off to search for the culprit.

And not only him. Rafael had yet to be seen or heard and Ryou dreaded to know what prank Yami must have pulled on him.

He stepped through the door into the game shop, flicking on the lights before doing a double take. Rafael was sitting cross-legged on the check-out counter with Yami perched in his lap. Ryou took a moment to take in the odd sight, before stepping forward towards them. Something tightened around his ankle and Ryou only had enough time to look down and see a jump rope wound around his left ankle before he was wrenched upwards and he knew no more.

The first thing Ryou was aware of was that he was lying on a couch, with the other four leaning over him watching him concernedly, and Bakura was snickering for some reason. Yami and Yugi were playing with a ball on the floor in front of the TV. Nothing was out of place in the formerly destroyed living room.

Ryou blinked. "Wha? Jou, how did you get out! You were locked in a closet! And you!" He turned to Valon. "You were strapped to a chair and Amelda was pinned to the ceiling with knives!" Ryou babbled, wondering why none of them were displaying any signs of being pranked. Amelda and Valon at least should have been mad at Yami!

"Um, Ryou, are you feeling alright?" Jou asked, feeling his forehead.

"I'm fine!" Ryou protested, pushing the blonde's hand away.

"Well, you started acting funny," Amelda chimed in.

"Yeah, you came down the stairs and just stopped, staring at something, before you wandered into the kitchen. You started staring at the ceiling for no reason and put Yugi into one of the chairs. Then you came back and went into the game shop and passed out after you flicked on the lights!" Valon told him.

Bakura's laughter turned into full blown hysteria. [[Didn't I tell you Yami was a prankster?]]

[What the heck are you talking about?] Ryou demanded.

[[Yami was a master of illusions. The prank, dear hikari, was on _you._ You were caught in the illusion the second you stepped onto the stairs.]]

Ryou groaned and fell back onto the couch, earning confused looks from everyone and a not-so-innocent smile from a certain crimson eyed chibi. [And you didn't tell me _why?_]

[[But yadonshi(2), I just did.]] Bakura replied innocently.

[Before I embarrassed myself would have been nice.]

[[Well that's no fun at all.]] Bakura answered; smirking as Ryou face palmed himself.

After Ryou explained what had happened, making everyone give Yami a scolding look, they decided to take the boys out for lunch and then to the History museum afterwards.

Ryou slid into the booth with Yami and Yugi and gave them a puzzle to work on while the others went to order their food. Minutes later, they returned, and everyone watched the twin chibis assemble the puzzle as they waited for their order.

By the time Yugi and Yami were finished with the puzzle, a waitress had brought them their food and Yami and his hikari clambered down onto the seats beside Jou and Ryou. After they were finished, Ryou started packing away the puzzle in the backpack he had brought to carry it and some other things.

Yami looked up at the sound of barking and stood up in the seat to peer out the window behind him. His keen eyes located the source as a large brown dog being walking by its owner down the street. But that wasn't what caught his attention now. Across the street was a familiar figure.

The crimson eyed chibi tugged on Jou's sleeve and the blonde looked questionably down at him. "Him back again."

"Him? Wait, you mean the blurry guy from the kitchen?" Jou asked, peering out the window to where Yami was looking across the street.

"Yep, yep."

"Huh? What blurry guy from the kitchen?" Ryou asked, confused. Rafael quickly explained the incident in the kitchen that occurred after he left.

[Bakura? What do you think?]

[[I don't know. The Pharaoh might have had the ability to see spirits because of his gift.]]

[_But?_] Ryou prompted.

[[The fact that he said it was blurry bothers me. If he can see spirits because of the gift, the spirit shouldn't have been blurry. Spirits usually only look that way if they are extremely weak. Plus, there's the fact that it was in the runt's kitchen and now it's here.]]

[You think it's following Yami? And don't call Yugi a runt.]

[[It's possible. He has a very powerful aura, it would make sense that spirits nearby would be drawn to it.]]

[So there isn't a problem?]

[[If it keeps appearing, perhaps. Spirits are usually tied to an anchor, which is an object or specific area, such as the place they died or something precious to them. And they can't travel very far from their anchor. So unless we have something that is its anchor, we might have a cause to be worried. Just tell me if the little pain in the ass sees it again.]] Bakura yawned and closed the door to his soul room, effectively cutting off the link.

Ryou blinked and turned back to the present to find the others waiting for him.

"So?" Jou asked. "What'd he say?"

"That we shouldn't worry too much right now and if Yami keeps seeing it we _might_ have a cause for worry."

"So in other words," Valon stated as he crossed his arms. "He has no idea whatsoever."

"Pretty much," Ryou agreed.

Several minutes later they were walking up the front steps of the History museum, Yami getting a piggyback ride on Jou and Yugi cradled in Rafael's arms. They paid the entrance fee and started wandering through the exhibits. Yami, who had been set down when Jou had fished out his wallet, kept trying to touch the few artifacts not behind the glass cases. Jou grabbed his hand and made sure he didn't stray too close to them. They didn't exactly have the money to pay for it if the kid broke anything.

Finally, after several hours, they wandered into the Egyptian exhibit.

Jou let go of Yami's hand as he leaned over to study the ornate ceremonial blades inlaid with gold and priceless gems in one case. Too busy looking at the swords and daggers; he didn't notice Yami wander off further into the exhibit towards a display in the middle of the floor, with a spotlight trained on it.

Yami walked up to the glass case set on a low table barely a foot off the ground. A long, oddly shaped gold box rested in it, with pictures and hieroglyphics carved everywhere. Curious, the chibi climbed up onto the table, bracing his hands on the top of the glass case as he stood on his tip toes to peer into the golden box. A figure lay inside, wrapped in discolored cloth strips and its arms folded across its chest.

Yami pressed closer to the glass. He knew this person. This person was special. This person was warm and safe and loving and . . . dead.

Jou reached down to grab Yami's hand again, and whirled around upon realizing Yami was no longer standing by his side. He spotted the chibi pressed up against a glass display case, hands desperately clawing the glass as tears dripped onto the clear surface.

There was no one other than themselves to notice the chibi, but Jou hurried over to stop him from possibly breaking the glass. He froze as he reached Yami, staring wide eyed down into a sarcophagus inhabited by a mummy, not paying attention to the others as they came up behind him.

"What's wrong with him?" Ryou asked, setting Yugi down, who climbed up onto the table next to Yami and was now clinging to his dark.

"I . . . I don't know. He just wandered off without my noticing and he came here." Jou answered, reached out to pull Yami away from the sarcophagus. But Yami wouldn't let go the glass case and Yugi refused to let his other half be dragged away from him, making Jou sigh in frustration. He wanted to leave before someone else came.

Rafael rubbed his temples before spotting a sign at the end of the case. Ignoring the others, who continued their attempts to drag Yami away, he went to go look. His eyes scanned the words, before going wide.

"Hey, come look at this."

The others glanced up curiously and circled around Rafael to get a look at the sign.

"This recently discovered mummy is from a tomb hidden in the Valley of the Queens. This mummy belongs to a young Queen by the name of Halima, who is believed to have died of illness. Queen Halima was the royal wife and queen of Pharaoh Aknamkanon, and believed to be the birth mother of the famous Nameless Pharaoh whose tomb and true identity remains undiscovered today," Amelda read, before doing a double take.

Everyone glanced up at Yami before turning to look at Ryou.

"Is it true?" Jou asked quietly. Ryou's hair spiked as he switched with Bakura, who nodded solemnly.

"Yes. Queen Halima was a beautiful woman. She was a gentle soul, kind, but strong. I met her once, before . . . before the Items were created. I think Yami was only five years old when she died."

"Oh. That sucks," Amelda said, glancing at the mummy.

Bakura stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the sniffling chibi. "Come on, let's go. I don't think Yami needs to be seeing his mother being displayed like a piece of jewelry. Khlan(3), let go now. You can't help her." Yami glanced up at him, before releasing his hold on the case and allowing his fellow dark to pick him up.

Without another word, Bakura turned and strode out of the exhibit and the others hurried to catch up, Jou picking up Yugi before he was accidently left behind. The tomb robber didn't stop until he reached a secluded bench beneath the cluster of trees in the park across the street.

Everyone sat in silence for a while as they listened to the soft coos of Yugi trying to comfort his upset dark half. The violet eyed chibi had once again latched onto Yami. Jou fidgeted, unable to just sit there while one of his best friends, albeit a chibi, was miserable.

"I know what'll cheer you up! Icecream!" he shouted suddenly, making the others jump and Yami to blink teary eyes questionably up at him with Yugi hiding behind him, scared by the sudden loud noise. Jou scooped the two of them up, as Yugi still refused to let go of Yami, and started heading towards the Icecream Parlor by the arcade.

Rafael glanced at the tomb robber as he stood; only now, it was Ryou in control. The tall blonde dusted himself off and got to his feet. "You know, your yami is being pretty caring towards the Pharaoh for being someone who tried to kill him for the last three thousand years."

"It's complicated. Bakura's village was destroyed to create the Items. He was the only survivor, and Zorc possessed him, manipulating his emotions until he was driven to revenge. But he blamed the wrong person, Yami's father. When he died, Bakura passed the blame onto Yami. But now, Zorc is gone, and Bakura knows the truth. And Yami was the one who set the souls from his village free. Bakura knows he has a lot to make up for, even if Yami forgave him."

Ryou turned and walked away, leaving behind three mute and stunned men. By the time they finally got enough sense to follow, Ryou was already half-way to the icecream shop.

When they finally arrived at the icecream parlor, Yami and Yugi were running back and forth along the icecream counter, giggling like mad, their eyes wide with wonder. Ryou was sitting alone at a booth while Jou was trying to get the twin chibis under control with a female employee laughing behind the counter at his plight.

The blonde managed to grab Yugi, but Yami dodged his grab and hid under a table. He squeaked as someone grabbed from behind. Crimson eyes looked back to find a smiling young woman with beautiful features. She looked like a runway model with those bright amethyst eyes and her long raven black hair. In truth, she looked like a queen.

Yami stared up at her with wonder in those warm arms and snuggled up to her. Jou ran up to the couple, panting, and smiling embarrassedly at the woman.

"Thanks for catching him."

"It is no problem. I know little kids have a habit of getting in trouble," the woman replied, stroking Yami's cheek softly. There was no sign of the upset chibi Yami had been moments ago at the museum. The chibitized Pharaoh looked happy in her arms, and was practically drifting off to sleep.

She gently kissed Yami on the head and handed her back to Jou. She brushed a short bang out of Yugi's face, making him giggle at the affection. Jou was surprised at how similar their eyes were. They were the same shade of amethyst. Before he could comment on it, the woman had swept past him, but when Jou turned around, there was no one there.

Shrugging it off, he carried Yami and Yugi back over to the counter so they could choose a flavor. Yugi immediately pointed to chocolate, while Yami went for the strawberry flavored icecream. Jou paid for the two cones and carried them back over to the booth where the other four were already sitting. Strangely enough, Dartz's former swordsmen seemed to be looking anywhere but Ryou and the soft-spoken teen seemed to be ignoring them too.

Pushing aside their unusual behavior, Jou went back and got his own icecream, leaving Yugi to crawl into Ryou's lap and Yami to make himself comfortable in Rafael's. The muscular blonde looked amused at the sight of the once regal Pharaoh licking the pink icecream dotted with bits of strawberry. He didn't expect it, however, when Yami dropped his icecream and stared out the window.

Jou walked up with a double scooped cone and a big smile on his face, which faltered as he took in the scene at the table. Yami's icecream was melting in Rafael's lap, but nobody noticed. Instead, everyone's attention was on the window. Confused, Jou looked up, and stared wordlessly at the fading handprint on the glass.

"It's him again, isn't it?" he asked Yami, who nodded, not taking his eyes off of the glass and the figure beyond it.

"That's it! We're going home right now to call Jii-chan." He scooped Yami up and left the icecream shop, the others on his heels.

Jou rummaged around the papers in the kitchen, searching for the scrap of paper with Jii-chan's contact numbers on it. Amelda rolled his eyes at him and pointed to a small piece of paper stuck to the refrigerator by a magnet. The blonde sweat dropped and took the paper, dialing the old man's hotel number first.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jii-chan it's Jounochi. Listen, we might have a problem." Jou quickly explained the mystertious spirit Yami kept seeing and the handprint on the glass, and about the mummy from the musuem. After Jii-chan promised to be on the next flight he could be after convincing his superiors he was needed home, Jou hung up and sighed. Hopefully, they could get Yugi and Yami back to normal soon and possibly get an explanation for what was going on.

* * *

Some of you probably hate me for writing that scene in the musuem, and I swear to you, I have no idea how it weaseled its way into the fic. But now that's its there, I've decided to make it part of my story. Oh, anyone get who the mysterious woman at the icecream parlor was? Heh heh.

I never noticed until I went back to check for mistakes that even though Yami talked, Yugi didn't say a word. Oh, and the way Yami talks is on purpose, so don't review and tell me about mistakes in Yami's speech. He's a little kid, of course he's not going to talk correctly.

(1) Contrary to popular belief, Bennu does not mean 'phoenix.' It's an Ancient Egyptian name meaning 'eagle.' The reasons Yami calls Rafael this will be revealed in the next chapter. (I didn't think a little kid could say Rafael, so I had Yami call him Bennu instead.)

(2) Yadonshi means 'landlord' This is what Bakura calls Ryou in the manga and Japanese anime.

(3) Arabic word meaning 'prince.'

Yugi: Review pease!


	3. Wings

_Wow, I'm surprised I've finished this chapter so fast, considering I'm writing another fic at the same time. Although this chapter is shorter compared to the other two._

_Disclaimers: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh_

_Warnings: Cussing. I think so far, the only warnings you're ever going to get for this fic is warning for cussing. Wait, there's mentions of someone getting shot in this chapter._

_AN: I'm surprised only one person got or even bothered to guess who the mysterious woman in the last chapter was. I'm kind of put out by that._

* * *

_Chapter Three: Wings_

* * *

The TV screen flickered with soft light, casting its glow across the group of passed out teens sprawled across the furniture. Dead to the world, no one noticed the back door slide open and a graceful figure slip through the glass doors into the house. The figure paused, dressed in dark flowing robes that swirled around her in the gentle breezes coming in through the open door. None of the teens stirred.

The hooded figure walked quietly past them and glided up the stairs towards an open doorway. Two small children lay curled in the nest of pillows and blankets on the bed. The smallest of the twin-like chibis was lying sideways against his dark, cheek resting on the other's back. The elder of the two lay on his stomach, fingers entwined in the soft folds of fabric surrounding him, his soft breathing moving his hikari's head up and down with every gentle rise and fall of his chest.

The figure smiled softly at the twins and sat on the edge of the bed, gently caressing their soft cheeks and brushing slender fingers into the long strands of their silken hair. Crimson eyes blinked sleepily up at the figure and crawled to his knees, making his other roll away and whimper at the loss of his pillow. Fingers stroked the small chibi's back, a soft voice singing in a language long forgotten by the present, lulling him back to sleep.

Crimson eyes blinked sleepily, but the child resisted the lull of sleep, and climbing into the figure's warm lap, cooing happily. Arms wrapped around him, and he pressed deeper into the warmth and safety of those loving arms. Only then, did he allow the soft voice to pull him away to the realm of dreams.

The figure smiled softly, kissing the forehead of the child she cradled. The figure stood, and set the slumbering child back into the circle of pillows and blankets. From around her neck, she pulled something and gently looped it around the crimson eyed teen's neck. From her robes, she took out a cloth wrapped box and set it inside the nest. Brushing her fingers across the smaller's cheek, she leaned down to place a soft kiss to his forehead, causing a curtain of raven black hair to spill from her hood.

She turned to look out the window, her eyes narrowing at the blurry figure out on the street before turning back to the larger of the two chibis. "Sleep well, my sweet prince," came the soft whisper before a breeze circled around the room. When the breeze was gone, there was no sign of the robed figure anywhere.

* * *

"Man, I'm starving!" Jou pulled open the cupboard, only to find it empty and continued to rummage around the kitchen for something edible. "Dere ain't nothing ta eat!" he finally said, after thoroughly searching the kitchen.

"Well there would be if _somebody_ hadn't ate it all," Anzu pointed out, dragging the moaning blonde out of the kitchen by his ear.

"Anzu!" Jou whined, trying unsuccessfully to pull her harsh grip off of his ear. She let go and he tumbled to the floor due to being off balance trying to free his ear from the lone female of the group. He rubbed his back as he stood, Honda laughing at him.

Anzu and Honda had come around to the Game Shop barely an hour after Jou called Jii-chan, and getting permission from their parents for a week long sleepover at the game shop from their parents. Anzu's excuse to her parents was that Yugi was sick and as his grandpa was out of town, Yugi needed someone to help take care of him.

Honda's parents on the other hand, had decided to go on another honeymoon for their upcoming anniversary, and didn't mind that he was going over to a friend's house. Unfortunately, Otogi had been dragged out of town by his father on a business trip and wouldn't be back for several days.

Like the night before, Rafael and his two companions had gone back to their hotel for the night. But not before helping to explain the events of that day, everything to Yami seeing a blurry spirit to the incident at the museum, at which Anzu had nearly squeezed the life out of Yami trying to comfort him, and finally, the call to Jii-chan. Needless to say, Yami had started to steer clear of Anzu whenever she was nearby.

"Why don't we just go out for breakfast?" Honda said reasonably.

Ryou nodded in agreement and went upstairs to get Yami and Yugi ready. Yami was reluctant to move from the warm cocoon he had somehow made in his sleep. As a result, the chibitized Pharaoh was tangled in layers of blankets. Yugi was giggling at them the whole time Ryou was trying to untangle Yami when at last, Yami was freed.

The part albino dug through the box-turned-wardrobe for clean clothes for the twins. He changed Yugi first, as the hikari was more compliant than his darker half. Fortunately, Yami didn't do much except whine when Ryou started dressing him. As Ryou slipped his pajama top off, something glinted around his neck and Ryou frowned at it.

A thin gold chain, interwoven with multiple chains that were strung through several amulets that looked to be carved out of green, blue, and red stones was looped around Yami's neck. Some were Ancient Egyptian symbols he recognized, such as the ankh, the Eye of Horus, a lotus, and several other eyes that weren't quite the same as the Eye of Horus, among other things.

Curious about them, he prodded his slumbering yami awake, and felt the dark stir.

[[What is it?]] Bakura snapped, irritable. Sleep was not a necessity for the spirits, unless they had seriously exhausted their energy reserves, but it was a luxury they indulged in. Bakura certainly loved his sleep, and from Yugi had said: Yami loved to sleep too. _"He's like a cat,"_ Yugi had told him once, referring to the Pharaoh.

Pushing aside the mental image of Yami with large fluffy cat ears and a tail with a large gold bell tied to the end of it by a thick red ribbon, he asked his dark about the significance of the amulets.

[[Symbols of protection]] Bakura grunted, before slamming his link shut and promptly going back to sleep. Ryou sweat dropped at his yami, realizing he didn't even ask him where the necklace of amulets had come from. Glancing back down, he wondered where Yami had gotten it, before having to fight with the image of cat features and bells on the crimson eyed chibi blinking adorably up at him in utter confusion.

Ryou blushed as he realized Yami was still half naked and was glad Bakura was not awake to tease him about his modesty again. The hikari quickly slipped on his shirt and picked Yugi up to head downstairs with Yami at his heels. For some reason, Yami preferred to walk everywhere unless he got tired or sleepy, unlike Yugi who preferred riding in the stroller or being carried.

Ryou twisted the knob of the door and yelped as he took a step forward, one foot hanging over a dark chasm that went deep down into the unknown. The rational part of his mind told him that this was not real, that it was not possible to have a twenty foot wide stone chasm where a three foot wide hallway would be.

Flushing at the knowledge that he had been fooled again by Yami's illusions: he sent a scolding look towards the chibi and sent a thank you to whatever gods were up there that Bakura was still sleeping and unaware that he had been pranked again. The thief would have never let him forget it.

* * *

After half an hour of arguing on where to go, they chose a small café several blocks away from the Kame Game Shop as it was cheap and within easy walking distance. Yugi was once again in the baby stroller and Yami was bounding along happily by Jou's side again. Though this time, the blonde made sure to keep the chibi between him and Honda in case he decided to run off again. You never knew with Yami.

They found a booth and started looking through the menus after ordering their drinks. Yami had been doing Sudoku puzzles in a booklet Jou found lying forgotten beneath the counter, and he seemed to be quite good at them too, when he suddenly tugged on Jou's sleeve. "Bob back again." (1)

"Bob" had been a name Honda had jokingly called the blurry spirit yesterday evening when the events of the day had been recounted to him and Anzu. Sadly, Yami had in the room at the time, and the name had stuck with him. Jou didn't think it was appropriate to be calling a possibly dangerous spirit stalking the Pharaoh _Bob_, but Yami had looked at him with big watery eyes and Jou had caved.

Jou sighed. "Ignore him, Yami. Maybe he'll go away we don't pay any attention to him."

He thought back to the phone call from Jii-chan earlier this morning. Some idiot had attempted to smuggle an Ancient Egyptian artifact through the airport, and now the whole place was on lockdown until everyone was checked for any more artifacts by the paranoid Egyptian government. As a result, flights were delayed until tomorrow afternoon, at the least.

"Okay. But Bob not waving anymore."

Jou blinked in surprise and turned sharply towards the chibi. "What do you mean he's not waving anymore?"

"Bob not blurry. He not moving back and forth no more. He just dark and see through. No face." Yami answered, looking up at Jou before going back to his Sudoku. Honda was playing peek-a-boo with Yugi across the table, making the chibi giggle as the bell to the small café dinged and the three swordsmen walked in with an old friend.

Jou jumped up with a large grin on his face as he rushed forward to meet her. "Mai!"

"Hey hun," Mai greeted cheerfully as she embraced the honey eyed blonde. Over her shoulder, he and Valon cast hateful glares at each other. "Long time no see. Now what's time I hear about the Pharaoh and Yugi being turned into Chibis?"

No sooner had she spoken than something was clinging to her leg, and Mai looked down to see one of the most adorable things she had ever seen in her life. A chibitized Pharaoh with crimson eyes. "Well aren't you just the cutest thing?" The busty blonde scooped him up and cuddled him, pinching his cheeks and cooing over him, making the males of the group scowl at the attention Yami was receiving.

Mai carried Yami back over to the booth, where she stole Yugi from Honda and started showing him the same treatment she did Yami. Honda rolled his eyes at her. Even Mai was going googly-eyed at the twins. It was ridiculous. Sure, they were cute, but that didn't mean everyone had to go gaga on them.

Jou was staring at Yami and wondering once again if Yami was attracted to those with light colored hair. So far, everyone Yami had immediately attached to was blonde or white haired. A bit embarrassed, he pointed this out to the others.

Ryou stared at him for a moment before his hair spiked and Jou was looking at the tomb robber. "Are you honestly _that_ dense?"

"What do you mean? It sounds like a plausible theory to me," Amelda said, shrugging. "I mean, he's latched on to Rafael the moment he saw him, same with Mai. From what I heard, Yami went to Jou first. And when Jou's not holding him, he goes to either you or Rafael."

Bakura sighed in irritation before digging around in the jacket he wore, and pulled out his dueling deck. Taking two cards from the deck, he lay them face up on the table. "These two are mine and Ryou's favorite cards. Diabound for me, and Change of Heart for Ryou. You three have your decks, right? Pull out your favorite cards."

Confused, they did so, Mai setting down Harpy Lady, Jou showing his Red Eyes Black Dragon, and Rafael placing his Guardian Eatos on the table.

"See anything in common with all of our cards?" the thief asked.

Everyone frowned, before Anzu came to sudden realization. "Wings," she breathed. "They all have wings."

"Thank you! At least one mortal here has a brain."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Amelda asked, glancing between all the cards and back to Yami, who was looking at them with interest.

"There's a reason these are our favorite cards. It's because they're our Ka, a representation of our soul. Yami can _see_ people's Ka. Why do you think he calls you Bennu?" he asked Rafael, before gesturing to the blonde's card. "Your Guardian Eatos' wings are that of an eagle's. Bennu means eagle in Ancient Egyptian."

Rafael's eyes widened at the explanation, glancing down at his card. He had always felt a connection to the card ever since it had been given to him all those years ago on the cruise. At the time, he's always assumed it was because his family had given it to him, and it was one of the only things he had left of them.

"But why does he like people that has Ka with wings?" Mai asked, confused.

Bakura snickered. "Heh. There's a certain someone from his past that has winged Ka, but without his memories, all Yami remembers is his love for that Ka's wings. It's no wonder he wonder he went to the Mutt first. His Ka is a dragon just like the royal pain in the ass's koi was. Plus, he's almost as stubborn as him."

Before anyone could say anything, Bakura was gone, leaving a blinking Ryou in his place. Everyone glanced at each other, confused on who this mysterious "koi" was. Jou almost had half a mind to ask Yami who it was, before realizing Yami didn't remember his past.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, gears were turning in Rafael's head as he thought on what Bakura had said. He was starting to suspect he knew _exactly_ who this "koi" was. He just wondered how long it would take for the others to figure it out.

The little bell on the café chimed cheerfully as two men entered the shop. Distracted by the arrival of their food, no one noticed the way Yami shrank back in his seat as the two men swept their gazes around the café. They ordered at the counter and sat down in an empty booth in the corner, surreptitiously keeping an eye on everyone. But only Yami noticed their watchful gazes.

Several minutes later, the bell rang again and a man stepped into the café and slipped into a booth. By this point Yami had slid out from under the booth and started to frantically tug on the nearest person's legs, trying to get their attention. Valon shook his leg, annoyed by the crimson eyed chibi's tugging.

"Cut that out, runt, I'm trying ta eat!"

"No no. Bad people. Wanna go home now," Yami whined, before climbing back under the table and climbing onto Jou's lap, tugging his shirt. "Home. We go bye-bye now. Wanna go. Bad people. They're bad people. Bad bad."

Ryou's eyes widened, and then they were no longer Ryou's.

Bakura slid out of the booth and grabbed Anzu's arm, pulling her out of the booth and grabbing Yugi with his free hand. "We. Are. Leaving. _Now,_" the tomb robber hissed between clenched teeth. Utterly confused, the others hurriedly summoned the waitress and paid the tab and chased after the thief who was already outside the café and setting a fast pace towards the Game shop.

Bakura didn't stop until they were in the Game Shop before everyone turned on Bakura, demanding to know an explanation. Bakura looked about ready to murder someone at that point.

"Are you people _deaf?_ I just explained to you how the brat can see Ka!"

"That doesn't have anyth-" Jou paused, remembering all the times Yami had shrank away from people out on the streets. "Wait, you said that Ka were reflections of people's souls. And if he can see people's souls . . ."

". . . He can see whether or not people are evil," Honda finished.

"But, if he has that ability, then how come he hasn't been able to use it before?" Anzu asked, confused.

Bakura rolled his eyes and pushed Ryou back into control. [[I swear these people get more idiotic by the day.]]

Ryou blinked; a habit of his when they switched, and looked at the crowd of expectant faces. "Um, Bakura says it's one of those cases where the ability goes away after childhood."

"So when the chibi curse is lifted, he won't be able to see Ka anymore?" Rafael questioned, settling on the couch and helping up Yami who snuggled up to a pillow next to him. Ryou shook his head.

"Eh well, nothing we can do about that," Jou commented, flopping down on the couch and claiming the remote. Several minutes later, he and Honda got into a fight on what show to watch. It was only Rafael's arm curling around the small chibi that kept Yami from being crushed by the two teens rolling around playing keep away with the remote.

There was a loud thud as they rolled off one end of the couch, and smacked right into Yugi who had been playing with the ball left there from yesterday morning. Tears glistened in his large amethyst eyes as his lips trembled. With a faint hiss of air, the chibi watched as his toy deflated under the weight of the two rough housing teens. A loud wail rent the living room as Yugi burst out into tears.

A second later, Honda and Jou found both of their ears being yanked on harshly. Crimson eyes glared at them, actually intimidating for the first time after being chibitized, before twisting their ears and an electric shock ran through them. Both of them yelped and rolled away from the chibi pharaoh who ignored them in favor of hugging his upset hikari.

A second later, a certain tomb robber burst out laughing. Everyone looked questionably at him, and in response, he pointed at Jou and Honda. Their eyes followed his finger, before the rest of them were laughing as well. Both of the teens looked at them, utterly confused.

Valon smirked at Jou, "I've always known you were a golden retriever."

"What?" Jou snarled, before catching sight of Honda. He stared at the large brown monkey style ears poking out where his normal ears.

At the same time, Honda glanced at Jou, and did a double take at the large fluffy yellow dog ears sticking out of his best friend's head. That was when both of them were wearing the same expressions. Both of their hands reached up and there were two shouts of shock when they discovered their new furry appendages.

Bakura rolled his eyes at them. "Idiots. What did you expect to happen? You made his hikari cry. You didn't really think getting shocked was going to be the extent he was going to do? Be glad he only morphed your ears, instead of your whole body."

A second later, another shock ran through them, and Jou and Honda yelped as two tails sprang from the seat of their pants. "Oh, it seems I spoke too soon. You're still changing," Bakura amended, smirking as they ran around the room in panic.

Yugi looked up, rubbing his eyes as they ran past them like a pair of chickens with their heads chopped off. Jou tripped over the coffee table, crashing to the ground.

"_Arrf!"_ Jou clamped a hand over his mouth in horror at the dog-like sound that he had just made. There was a chittering noise and Honda clapped both hands over his own mouth, eyes wide. Giggling broke the silence, and everyone looked to find Yugi clapping his hands as he laughed, tears gone. Not a second later, there was a tingling and the ears and tails vanished from two surprised teens.

Bakura snorted. "Morons. Are you forgetting that Yami can create illusions? He can't really morph anyone's body parts." Both teens grinned at each other sheepishly.

* * *

Hours later, the group was seated around the table. At one end, Valon and Mai were dueling each other using one of the old dueling mats Jou found Yugi's room. Rafael and Anzu were seated on the couch with the twins. Yami had fallen asleep curled around a cushion and using Rafael's leg as a pillow. Yugi was playing with a Rubik cube next to his dark. Anzu was flipping uninterestedly through the channels of the TV before pausing on the news.

The news reporter was saying something about the mysterious disappearance of one of the museum's artifacts. In the corner of the screen, there was a picture of the missing artifact, a necklace adorned with various amulets carved from green, blue, and red stones. The newsman went on to talk about the new Ancient Egyptian exhibit it was from, found inside the sarcophagus of a recently discovered queen.

Ryou frowned at the screen. He had seen that necklace before . . . . His head whipped around to look at Yami and he scrambled over to pull the cushion away from the chibi. Yami yawned at him and blinked at him with sleepy eyes as Ryou reached into his shirt and pulled out the necklace he had seen this morning. He had forgotten all about it.

"Yami! Did you take this from the museum?" he asked, once his suspicions were confirmed. Everyone was glancing between the television screen and the necklace around Yami's neck. Crimson eyes blinked blearily at him as the chibi shook his head. "Then where did you get it?"

"Mommy gave it to me," Yami answered, yawning and falling back to sleep. The room was silent as they glanced at each other.

"Uh, guys?" Honda's voice interrupted the silence. The group turned back to the TV screen where the newsman had switched over to a female reporter speaking in front of the very same café they had ate at. A group of three men had robbed the place not long after they had left, and one man had been shot.

Anzu shivered, remembering the time she had been held hostage at Burger World by a prison escapee, before Yami had played a Shadow Game with him and almost set him on fire with a lighter(2). And it was thanks to Yami that she had not been in a similar situation.

* * *

[I can't believe I'm letting you do this.] Ryou moaned as his yami as the thief scaled up the museum walls with ease. Their shared body was dressed in dark blue outfit complete with a hood, their hair tucked carefully under a black ski cap. Where Bakura had gotten the clothes from, Ryou had no idea, although he suspected it wasn't the first time they had been worn.

[[Hey. You said you wanted the necklace returned to the museum. We can't exactly walk up to the police and turn it in. We'd have to explain where we got it, and they'd suspect we stole it to claim a reward. At least this way, the necklace gets returned and I get to do something fun for once.]]

[Don't you dare steal anything.]

Bakura rolled his eyes and called upon the shadows. They responded to his thoughts and they sank through the roof of the museum and into the Egyptian exhibit. Bakura easily disabled the alarms and replaced the necklace in the case it belonged in. When he was finished, he reset the alarm and the shadows carried him back through the roof.

The next morning, museum staff stared dumbfounded at the missing necklace resting innocently in its case among the other jewelry.

* * *

THE END! Nah, just kidding. I've still got several more chapters to go. I hope everyone was just amused by this chapter as I was.

(1) There was a point in our childhood when my sister went through an odd phase of naming everything Bob. I got sick and tired of calling him "the blurry spirit" all the time. Well, he's not blurry anymore, but still.

(2) Episode 2 of Season Zero. If you haven't watched them, then go to YouTube. Just type in season zero and it'll come up. The episodes are in Japanese, but don't worry, they're English subbed. 4kids never dubbed it because of how badass it is. I fricking _love_ season zero Yami, which is why I have Yami with crimson eyes. In season zero, Yami's shadow games actually drive people insane and kill them, rather than just sending them to the Shadow Realm, and the games he uses to play them aren't always Duel Monsters. I think the only Shadow Game he plays that was actually Duel Monsters was against Kaiba. Btw, Kaiba has _green hair_ in season zero. I find it hilarious.

Thank you for reading. Review Please! They make authors happy.


	4. My Taneen

I'm back! And I think my internet's rebelling against me using it too much or something. My device keeps shutting itself off or disconnecting at random moments. It took me several tries to upload this.

Anyways, thanks a bunch to ScarletBlackberry for giving me the Arabic word for dragon, which is "taneen".

To all my lovely reviewers, thank you so much for your reviews.

Disclaimers: We all know 4kids majorly screwed up Yu-Gi-Oh so it just goes for show that I don't own it, because otherwise 4kids wouldn't own it and yugioh would be the Teen rated anime it was always meant to be.

Warnings: Cussing of course.

* * *

Chapter 4: My Taneen

* * *

Ryou smiled brightly at Yugi as he shook his fellow hikari awake, and moved on to Yami, before frowning. The crimson eyed chibi was curled around a small wooden box that Ryou was fairly certain he had never seen before. The contents rattled as he pried the box from Yami's arms, making the chibi whine.

For a moment, Ryou didn't understand what he was looking at when he went to open the box, only to discover various pieces of wood intertwining in senseless patterns. Then he realized the pieces were a puzzle, cleverly designed as a lock for the small chest. Turning it over in his hands, he discovered a cartouche carved on the bottom of the box, complete with hieroglyphics.

[[Atemu]] Bakura said suddenly, and Ryou jumped, scaring Yugi.

[What?] Ryou asked, setting aside the box to pick Yugi up. The chibi didn't like loud noises.

[[The hieroglyphics in the cartouche. It says Atemu, Yami's birth name.]]

[Okay, but why is it carved on the bottom of a chest, and why is the chest here?] Ryou asked, eying the chest which Yami had picked up and was now fiddling with the wood pieces.

Bakura was silent for a moment, then: [[Yami was telling the truth when he said Queen Halima gave him that necklace.]]

Ryou nearly fell off the bed anime style. [WHAT?] The hikari managed to right himself, glad his fall had not made Yugi cry because he had no desire to experience another one of Yami's pranks. Especially after the little incident concerning Jou and Honda. [What makes you say that?]

[[I've seen that box before, several times in fact. The first time I ever saw it was when I saw Queen Halima. She was carrying in her lap as she rode by on her horse. I saw it again in Yami's room, back when he was still the Crown Prince.]]

[What were you doing in Yami's room?]

[[I'm a thief. What do you think I was doing?]]

[Oh. Right, of course.]

[[I saw the box before that though . . . Yami was holding it on the funeral barge.]]

[_Funeral barge?_] Ryou squeaked, a little alarmed.

[[When they were carrying Queen Halima's mummy up the Nile to her resting place. Yami was clutching the box the whole time like the world would end if he let go of it even in the slightest.]] Bakura retreated into his soul room before Ryou could say anything else.

The hikari sighed and turned back to Yami, just as the box made a grating noise and the lid clicked open. From its depths, the chibi pulled a very familiar necklace out. Ryou blinked at the lookalike of the necklace he had made Bakura put back in the museum last night, utterly confused. Were there two of them? Or was there some kind of magic that summoned the necklace into the box when it got too far away?

He made a mental note to check the news later that day, because if he let Bakura break into a museum for no reason, he was going to be upset.

Yami, oblivious to Ryou's thoughts, dumped the box upside down. Wooden pieces scattered everywhere on the bed and Yami cooed happily as he started fiddling with the pieces. Ryou picked up a piece and inspected it. For being over three thousand years old, the box and the pieces of wood were in pretty good condition. Of course, that could have been the result of some spell cast over it.

What Ryou wanted to know, was where the box had come from, and why it was so special. Bakura had said he saw Yami's mother with it when she first became Queen, and before Yami was born. So the box had been Halima's before Yami had it. The box was rather plain, nothing but the complex puzzle on the front and a cartouche that read Atemu carved in the bottom of it. And if Yami really had told the truth, the Queen had somehow come back from the dead to give Yami a necklace and a box that had another necklace and a bunch of wooden blocks.

What was it that made it so endearing to the Queen and her son? Ryou didn't have an answer.

* * *

It was a group of four perplexed teens that sat around the living room, staring at the TV screen. Mai had left town earlier this morning, off to another Duel Monsters tournament. The three former Swordsmen had returned to their hotel last night and were going to spend the day doing their own things in town.

Ryou had told them all about the weird box, making Bakura return the necklace last night, finding an identical necklace in the box, his conversation with Bakura, and the pieces of wood Yami found in the box. After watching the news a few minutes ago, they had learned that the necklace was indeed back in the museum, and the necklace currently around Yami's neck was an exact replica of the first. None of them had any clue of what to think about it all.

Without his memories, Yami would be of no help. Ryou had gotten yelled at by his irritant yami earlier, who claimed he didn't know anything about the box other than it belonged to Queen Halima before Yami was born, and it was somehow important to both Yami and his dead mother. Who by the way, seemed to be up and walking about. An eerie thought, since they knew from Yami that spirits couldn't move things by themselves, so she had to have been solid.

None of them appreciated the suggestion from Jou that she had possessed her mummy and used it to give Yami the necklace and box. The thought that a mummy had been in the house while they were sleeping and have been standing in Yugi's bedroom was creepy. But none of them had any other ideas on how she had touched anything physical.

So there they were, watching Yugi play with a ball while Yami was playing with the wooden pieces from the box. It was of no surprise to the gang that it was a puzzle. Unlike Yugi, who was easily amused by anything that was colorful or made funny noises, Yami was always playing around with the puzzles. Jou had discovered an entire shelf full of puzzles in Yugi's closet, and although it had only been a few days, Yami had put together every one of them already, with and without Yugi's help.

The wooden puzzle, however, seemed to hold Yami's attention for far longer than the other puzzles. He worked slowly, turning each piece over in his hands, before putting it with another piece. Yami didn't have his memories, but he treated each with the familiarity of having played with them all his life. And perhaps, in Ancient Egypt, he had.

None of them had any idea what the puzzle was going to be, except that it was a 3-D figure judging by what Yami had already put together.

The sound of something shattering caused the teens to jump as a ball bounced off the wall and smashed into Yami's puzzle, smashing it. Crimson eyes blinked uncomprehendingly at the ball and the scattered pieces of his puzzle. Only a few pieces remained together from what Yami had put together.

All eyes turned onto a wide eyed chibi who was looking at the shattered antique vase Jii-chan had brought back on one of his archeological digs. "Oopsies," Yugi said, and went to poke one of the shards. Honda grabbed him and carried him away from the mess.

"Perhaps we'd better go to the park and let them play. I don't want to explain the reason why all of his artifacts have been shattered to Grandpa when he gets home," Anzu said, glancing at the broken vase and wondering just how much it was worth.

Yami wasn't exactly happy about them leaving behind his puzzle when they took him and Yugi to the park. Yugi immediately took off towards the sand box and started playing in it, with Honda and Ryou trailing after him to keep an eye on the toddler. Yami didn't seem interested in the sand, and wandered off around the playground. Jou seated himself on a bench to watch him as Anzu followed the chibitized Pharaoh, trying to get him to play.

He didn't seem to understand why the other kids were running around screaming. Yami just stared at them as they tried to get him to join in on their games. After a while, they gave up and Yami walked off towards the swings, which were strangely unoccupied. He cocked his head at the seat, not understanding its purpose, and lightly pushed it. It swung slowly back and forth with a slight creak.

Anzu came up from behind him and lifted him into the swing. Jou couldn't hear what was being said, but from the way Yami gripped the chains, he assumed Anzu had told him to hold on. She started out slow, before pushing him faster, making him giggle in delight. Jou smiled at the sight. There wasn't much that could hold Yami's attention for long, unlike Yugi, whose attention could be caught and held by the simplest of things for long periods of time.

He was always exploring, always trying to find something new, curious about everything. More than once Jou had to pull him away from things that could hurt him, like last night when he tried putting scissors into the light socket. Jou had even woken up in the middle of the night to find the chibi had wandered into the kitchen and very nearly got himself burned on the stove after he switched it on, trying to figure out what the knobs did. The chibi hadn't realized that the stove slowly turning hot beneath him was a bad thing.

It made Jou wonder how someone who could sense something bad was coming, and was one of the most powerful Pharaohs in history could be so clueless about the simplest of things. Sure, he was a little kid with no memories now, but he understood things Jou couldn't even began to comprehend.

There was a loud wail and Jou looked up to see Yugi crying in the sandbox with an older boy standing over him. He held one of the shovels Yugi had been playing with and had obviously pushed the much smaller kid down. Ryou was hugging him, trying to calm him down as Honda got into an argument with the bully's mother. Anzu rushed to help, leaving Yami behind on the swing.

After several minutes, the mother walked away with a huff, dragging her son away and muttering something about a bunch of no good teenagers messing with her darling son. Yugi stopped crying as his shovel was handed back and Ryou encouraged him to start playing again. Jou turned to glance at the swing where Yami was. It was empty.

"Oh shit . . ."

* * *

Yami giggled as he ran through the trees, following the strange white, familiar white light. He loved that light. He had seen it here before, but Bennu had caught him and his black taneen had carried him back to tenshi. But not now, he was going to find white taneen and black taneen was not here to take him away now.

The trees thinned and the crimson eyed chibi found what he was looking for. He ran forward, giggling as he latched onto the black covered leg and clung to it as hard as he could. Icy blue eyes stared incredulously down at him as a raven haired boy crouched next to him.

"Aw, he's so cute!" the boy spoke, pinching one of Yami's cheeks. Yami scowled at him and shuffled away, still holding onto his taneen's leg.

"Mokuba, I don't care if he's cute or not, get him off my leg," the blue eyed one spoke.

Mokuba shrugged and wrapped his arms around the chibi and pulled, trying to get Yami to let go. With a whine, Yami was pulled free and Mokuba lifted him into his arms to get a better look at the chibi.

"Hey Nii-sama, he looks just like a Yugi. Well, a miniature and darker version of Yugi anyways," Mokuba commented, holding Yami up to prove his point.

Blue eyes widened before he took Yami from Mokuba's hands and lifted him up to look into deep crimson pools. The chibi smiled widely at him, before giggling and wrapping his much smaller hands around his. Why did he suddenly have a bad feeling about this?

"Yo Kaiba! That's considered kidnapping ya know!"

Kaiba groaned and rolled his eyes at the sound of the Mutt's voice and turned to see the dweeb patrol running towards them, but they seemed to be missing the runt. Then Kaiba noticed the tiny bundle in the annoying friendship girl's arms. It was _Yugi_, down to the large violet eyes and cherubic features, only in miniature. Well, more miniature than before, anyways.

Then Kaiba processed what the Mutt had said. The friendship orgy knew the kid in his hands. The bad feeling suddenly got worse as he looked from Yugi and slowly turned back to the darker look-alike he was holding.

There was no way . . . he was a spirit . . . wasn't he? This had to be some distant relative to the runt. There was _no way_ HIS rival had been turned into a chibi along with his annoying other half.

"Are ya listening money bags, give Yami back now! Ya can duel him when we figure out how to remove the curse."

Kaiba disguised his shock behind a sneer and shoved Yami into the blonde's arms and turned to walk away. Yami squirmed in Jou's arms, reaching out and grabbed the brunette's wrist. "Taneen!" he whined. Yami's eyes went wide and moist.

_Don't tell me he can do those accursed chibi eyes,_ was Kaiba's only thought, before Yami's lips trembled. He whirled, grabbing Mokuba's hand and walked as fast as he could without actually running. He could hear the dweeb patrol calling things after him and Yami crying that word, _taneen_, over and over again. He tried not to think of how he understood the meaning of that word.

* * *

The doorbell to the Kame Game Shop rang cheerfully and Jou got up to open it, Yami and Yugi on his heels. He opened the door to admit Honda, Anzu, and Ryou who stumbled in, laden with groceries. After Yami near threw a fit when Kaiba left earlier this morning, the gang had returned to the Game Shop.

When Anzu remembered that was no food left in the house she had dragged Ryou and Honda to the store (Honda because he was the only one there with a driver's license and Ryou because he knew more about cooking any of the others).

Jou had been practically ordered to stay put by the lone female of the group, but he didn't mind so much. Looking after Yami and Yugi was far more fun than being dragged around a store by a girl, especially if said female would have been dragging him around by his ear.

The groceries were put away, with Anzu keeping a close eye on Jou, in case he tried to sneak any food. Afterwards, they got a few games and started playing. Despite having trouble counting, the twins were surprisingly good at Monopoly. Honda had been kicked out of the game by Yami, who was playing with Jou's help. With several unlucky rolls of the dice, Ryou lost all his money to Yugi after landing on his property three times in a row. Then it was just Yugi and Yami playing, helped by Anzu and Jou.

The shrill ringing of the house phone interrupted the game and Yugi hid under the table at the sound. Ryou, who was sitting next to the phone, reached over and answered it. "Jii-chan's at the airport," he announced, after hanging up the phone.

Ryou took Jou's place as Yami's helper, since Jou left with Honda to pick up grandpa from the airport. They were still playing when the door opened and Jii-chan walked in with Jou and Honda behind him, carrying in his things for him. He saw Yugi and Yami sitting in Ryou and Anzu's laps and smiled brightly at them. As if they knew who he was, both jumped up and hugged each of his legs.

The old man chuckled and, with a little effort, managed to scoop them up and set them in his lap as he sat on the couch. "Oh my, it's been a long time since I've had a child on my lap like this. When Yugi grew up, I knew I wouldn't have any more grandchildren to take care of like I used to. But now I've got _two_ grandsons to look after all over again."

"But sir, didn't you come back to help us look for a way to get Yami and Yugi back into their teenaged forms? I mean, Yami's getting haunted by some ghost thingy and we have no idea why," Honda pointed out as Jii-chan went back to cooing at Yugi and Yami.

"Yes, of course. But indulge an old man and let him play with his grandsons before he starts looking through dusty old books. I'm going to need to find my book of hieroglyphs. At my age, you start forgetting things and blurring the meanings." Jii-chan answered, before going back to play with the two chibis.

* * *

Crimson eyes blinked open in the darkness and looked around the room. His other was curled up asleep next to him. His eyes moved upwards towards the skylight and stared at the faceless figure of the familiar spirit. The figure turned and vanished from the skylight. He crawled out of bed and climbed awkwardly onto the desk and peered out. The spirit was standing on the sidewalk below, still looking up towards him.

Looking back at his light, he slipped from the desk and wobbled carefully down the stairs, trying not to trip in the overlong white shirt he had been given to sleep in. Carefully, he peered around the corner at the sleeping teens and looked towards the glass sliding doors. With a faint rumble, they slid open of their own accord. The faceless spirit looked back at him through the open doorway and turned.

Curious eyes glanced hesitantly towards the slumbering group crashed out on the floor and couch, before scampering across the living room floor and out the door into the night, chasing the glowing figure of his haunter.

He lost track of the streets and alleyways he trod, thinking only to find the faceless spirit. But he had vanished. Only then, did he realize he didn't know where he was. But there was nothing and no one in the darkness. Only patches of dim flickering light provided by forlorn street lamps.

The night air was cold. The ground beneath his bare feet was like ice and each step he took numbed them. He shivered, wincing as he stepped on something sharp, but it was too dark to see. He was afraid to go near the light. In the darkness he could hide, but the within the pool of light, everything else hiding in the darkness could see _him_.

The wind blew, and he heard the sound of quiet creaking. He knew that creak. His footfalls were silent as he made his way off the hard black floor onto the damp feeling he knew to be grass. The creaking grew louder, until his searching hand brushed the seat of the swing.

He stood there, listening to it creak. Gentle hands surrounded him, and lifted him up into the swing before giving him a gentle push. As he swung, a soft voice began singing. He could have stayed there forever in the darkness, listening to that quiet lullaby, letting those gentle hands push him back and forth. But all too soon, it ended.

A pale hand grasped his own, and he let himself slip from the swing. He looked up into the smiling face, the familiar violet orbs, and toddled along at her side as she walked, still singing her lullaby. Together they walked through the darkness until Yami's eyes began drooping. Delicate hands lifted him into those warm loving arms and his head fell forward against her shoulder and the realm of dreams claimed him.

* * *

Early the next morning, Anzu went upstairs to get the twins ready for the day. She was picking up a sleepy Yugi when she noticed something. There was mud and bits of grass all over the sheets. She frowned before her eyes landed on Yami. The bottom of his feet were completely black and speckled with mud and grass, like he had spent the night walking barefooted on asphalt pavement then walked through a damp lawn. There was even mud and grass all over his legs and his shirt.

Setting Yugi down, she picked Yami up and took the barely awake chibi down the hall to the bathroom. He didn't stir as she ran the water until it was the right temperature, before plugging the drain and letting the tub fill. When she stripped him of his shirt and set him into the water he jerked awake and had escaped her grasp before she could even blink.

Finally coming back to her senses, she rushed downstairs to capture the runaway. It wasn't hard; his feet left tracks on the carpet and wooden stairs. By the time she got into the living room, everyone else had been woken by the chibi and the tomb robber had already caught Yami, who pouted as the thief carried him back upstairs.

Anzu blinked when she found the bathroom door locked and gibberish coming from inside, like Bakura was having a conversation with Yami in Ancient Egyptian. She shrugged and decided to stay out of it, as strange as the idea of Bakura being even remotely civil to the former Pharaoh was. Bakura may have hunted Yami for over three thousand years, but the thief knew him better than any of them.

The brunette looked up as Jii-chan came out of Yugi's bedroom with the amethyst eyed chibi in his arms, dressed. Azure eyes glanced at the bathroom door again and followed the elder downstairs just as the doorbell rang.

Jou opened the door to Rafael, who shrugged when asked where Valon and Amelda were, saying they went off somewhere this morning. "So, anything interesting happen yesterday?" he asked.

"Naw, not really. Unless you count Yami running off again, finding Kaiba, and crying when we took him away from the suck-up prick," Jou snorted, before heading into the kitchen, muttering profanities under his breath at Kaiba.

Rafael coughed lightly at the mention of Kaiba, earning him some odd looks from the group. He shook his head, holding back a smile. Obviously, they haven't figured out the connection yet. Ryou's features flickered for a second and the tomb robber grinned knowingly at him.

After breakfast, the group decided to take Yami and Yugi back to the park to them play and take a picnic for lunch.

The morning passed slowly, Jou making sure he kept an eye on Yami the whole time, in case the chibi decided to run off again. He spent most of the time on the swings with Anzu pushing him. At one point, Anzu had encouraged him to join Yugi and a young girl in the sand box. During lunch, Yami had curled up between Ryou and Rafael on the picnic blanket and took a nap.

Ryou almost regretted waking him when lunch was over and it was time to go home. They packed away the blanket and headed home. They heard the sirens a block away and when they found the source, it was an unwelcome surprise.

Three fire trucks, two police cruisers, and an ambulance were parked on the street in front of the corner where the Kame Game Shop sat. Five firefighters were busy hosing down the two story house next door to the shop, but another pair was busy putting out a small flame that roared on the side of the Game Shop.

The police tried to hold them back as they ran up to the scene, until Jii-chan explained he was the owner of the Kame Game Shop. After a brief conversation with their neighbors, they learned that an electrical plug had sparked in one of the upstairs rooms while they were downstairs and it had spread throughout the house and eventually jumped across the narrow alleyway to the Kame Game Shop.

After they were allowed to inspect the damage, they found that the old bedroom belonging to Yugi's parents was the only room to suffer burn damages. Unfortunately, it had burned through the walls and the outer wall had mostly crumbled away, exposing the room to the elements. There was also a large hole between the room and the bathroom. On top of that, there was going to be water damage due to the water used to put the flame out.

Jii-chan announced they were going to have to vacate the house until the damages had been repaired. There were harmful toxins in the air from the fire burning and releasing gases trapped in household items made of plastic and such.

Anzu and Ryou stayed outside with the twins while everyone else went to gather up their sleepover things and helped Jii-chan pack his own bags for himself, Yami, and Yugi. Fifteen minutes later found them sitting awkwardly back in the park, unsure of what to do now that they couldn't stay at the Game Shop.

Jou had Yami on his lap, arms wrapped tightly around him, in case the chibi decided to run off again. Part of it, Rafael suspected, was because Jou had subconsciously realized Yami was drawn to the CEO. The other part was that Jou was rather protective of Yami; and Yugi as well. But considering all the people that's came after the Pharaoh, it wasn't all that surprising.

"So . . . what are we supposed to do now?" Honda asked, flicking a fallen leaf off his shoulder where it had landed.

Anzu shrugged and leaned back on the bench, before shooting to her feet with a wide grin. "I know! Come on! Let's go guys!" She grabbed her travel bag with her sleepover things and Yugi and ran off, leaving the others to scramble after her, calling for her to wait up.

"Hell to the fucking no!" Jou shouted once they caught up to Anzu.

"Oh come on guys, we need a place to stay and he's got plenty to spare," Anzu reasoned. The brunette was currently looking up at the tallest building in Domino city, otherwise known as the Kaiba Corps Tower, the headquarters for the company and where one Seto Kaiba's main office was located.

"What makes you think he's going to do us any favors, anyway?" Honda asked, shoving his hands his pockets and eying the two security guards by the front door as they continued to give the odd group suspicious stares.

"One word: Mokuba," Anzu said, before the gang grinned at her. There was no way Kaiba would say no to his own little brother; and there was no way Mokuba would say no to them. Especially not after seeing the raven haired preteen coo over Yami in the park.

Once inside, they went straight to Mokuba, who was in the video gaming department, testing out the new games Kaiba Corps was getting ready to put on the market. After explanations about why they were there and what they wanted, Mokuba was happy to lead them several floors up to his older brother. They bypassed Kaiba's secretary without resistance, and went straight into the office.

Needless to say, Kaiba wasn't very happy to see them. He was even less than happy to hear that they wanted to stay at his mansion until the damages to the Kame Game Shop could be repaired. Even when Mokuba started giving him puppy dog eyes, he had remained firm in his refusal. Until Yami suddenly clambered onto his lap and latched onto his white dress shirt.

Yami smiled happily up at him and Kaiba froze at the sight of the crimson eyes gazing cheerfully up at him. Yugi joined him moments later, causing the normally unaffected CEO to lean away as their eyes grew big and round. "Fine! Alright! You can stay at the mansion!" Quickly he pushed Yugi into Mokuba's arms and set Yami gently on the desk.

"Now get out and let me get back to work!"

Rafael doubted anyone noticed the lingering look Kaiba gave Yami as Jou pulled the chibi off the desk after the chibi started crawling towards the blue eyed brunette. Yami whined as he was carried away as the group followed Mokuba out of the office.

Mokuba had summoned a limo, and the gang chatted on the way to the mansion, gleeful about staying in the mansion and giving an imaginary toast to Yami and Yugi's chibi eyes. Yugi kept giggling, sensing the cheerful atmosphere. Yami however, was curled up next to Bakura, but nobody else had noticed he had switched with Ryou, Rafael noted. They were having a conversation in what he assumed was Ancient Egyptian.

He gave a slight smile when Yami laid his head on the tomb robber's leg and snuggled up closer to him. Bakura awkwardly patted the royal's head, like he wasn't sure what do in this situation. Luckily for him, Yami had dozed off, so he was saved with having to do anything else. Ryou came back to the surface and he smiled down at Yami, stroking his back lightly.

* * *

*taneen means "Dragon" in Arabic.

*the "black taneen" Yami mentions is referring to Jou, because of his Red Eyes Black Dragon.

*tenshi = "angel" in Japanese, referring to Yugi.

This chapter was rather hard to write. Between Father's Day, my Dad's birthday, being dragged around shopping by my mom, being dragged down to see my grandmother who lives an hour and half away, driving lessons, laziness, my internet screwing up, and writer's block, my mind just didn't want to work. At one point I sat here for quite a while trying to type something and nothing would turn out. It was just so frustrating!

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'd love to hear your opinions on this. Ja ne!


	5. At the Kaiba Mansion

What is it with the characters completely ignoring the outlines I wrote for this and going off to do their own thing? This whole chapter sprung from one tiny little thing I wanted to happen and moved in a whole new direction entirely. Oh well.

By the way, I cannot believe the stupidity of some people. I just read an article where a house burglar got himself caught because he found a bottle of vodka and decided to help himself to it. He was practically drunk when the police found him. At least the people who owned the house avoided getting all their money stolen.

Disclaimers: I own nothing but the plot bunny bouncing around in my head. Oh, and Halima, Yami's mother. And the spirit guy.

Warnings: Cussing.

* * *

_Chapter 5: At the Kaiba Mansion_

* * *

Kaiba sighed as he pulled off his tie and flung it in a random direction, not caring where it landed. His maids could find it and take care of it later. Right now, he was too tired to care about the state of his room. Between idiotic employees who managed to butcher even the simplest things to now having the _friendship posse_ living in his mansion . . . he just wanted to sleep the rest of the few hours he had left before it was time to go back into work. But his tired eyes refused to close.

Kaiba sighed again, before freezing at the sound of his door scraping the carpet softly before scraping again; indicting someone had just opened and closed his door. His hand instinctively curled around the handgun he kept under the pillow.

He knew it couldn't be the household staff; they have all been with him for a long time and knew not to disturb him so late at night, or rather, so early in the morning. And it couldn't be Yugi's little gang. He had found them all passed out in the entertainment room earlier in his search for Mokuba.

There was a light scrape next to his bed, before someone pulled at his bed sheets. Kaiba whipped the gun out from under his pillow and aimed it towards the sound, only to blink. The soft moonlight filtering in through his window gave him just enough light to see twin crimson orbs looking curiously up at him. There was a pull of the bed sheets again as the chibi tried to clamber up onto his bed.

After several tries of slipping and falling, he managed to crawl onto the top of Kaiba's large King sized bed decked out in a deep blue comforter embroidered with silver Chinese styled dragons. Yami cocked his head curiously at the gun in Kaiba's hand and poked it, moving his head from side to side as he examined it. Kaiba hastily put the gun away into a drawer and locked it, in case the chibi got too curious and tried to pull the trigger.

Deep pools of ruby followed his movements before Yami crawled forward and settled himself against Kaiba's side. The chibi started crooning something in his native tongue. Familiar words that struck a chord deep within the brunette, but he dared not try to reach for it. It was bad enough that he unexplainably understood Ancient Egyptian. He didn't need to start unexplainably remembering a "past life" as High Priest or whatever Yugi had said he was.

He had admitted to Yugi being the King of Games and he had admitted that the Shadow Realm and the yamis existed. There was no way he was going to start accepting that he was some incarnation of a high priest named Seth that happened to be Yami's cousin and took over the throne after Yami sealed his soul in the puzzle. No, magic was the limit for him.

Sanguine eyes blinked up at him, as though they understood what was going through Kaiba's head. Sitting up, the chibi pressed his lips to the elder male's forehead in a chaste kiss. "Sedjer, dep taneen," Yami whispered. (1)

Kaiba's eyes closed involuntarily, and the brunette found himself drifting deep within peaceful dreams, unhindered by nightmares for once in his life since he became a Kaiba. Yami smiled happily at his slumbering dragon and curled back up against his side and joined Kaiba in his sleep.

Several hours later, Kaiba woke up to his alarm feeling refreshed and well rested. Small fingers dug into his shirt as he reached over to turn off his alarm, and Kaiba blinked as he looked down at the chibi sleeping beside him, a frown marring his otherwise peaceful face. Carefully, not to wake the slumbering chibi, he pried his fingers from his shirt and slipped out of the bed to shower and get ready.

He adjusted his tie after he dressed, and grabbed his briefcase. He cast a look at Yami who had shifted and was curled up in the warm indention on the bed where he had been sleeping. Kaiba smiled softly and left the room for work, not noticing the humanoid figure that glared at him from the corner.

* * *

Crimson eyes opened as the bedroom door closed and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. His dragon was no longer in the room, but the bed was still warm, so he must have just left. Yawning, he crawled to the side of the bed and slipped off to the blue carpeted floor below. The colors of blue and silver seemed to be a major theme in the room, along with dragons, but that was to be expected.

Yami bounced towards the door and stood on his toes as he stretched out his fingers for the doorknob. The digits barely brushed the silver knob, and the chibi stamped his feet in annoyance. He muttered something in Ancient Egyptian as he drew patterns in the air with his fingers. Golden hieroglyphs formed where his fingers traced, hovering in midair. The knob turned and the door swung open.

Proudly, the chibi skipped out the room and glanced around the large hallway, searching for a sign of his dragon. There was a flare of white and he turned towards it. He saw the end of a white trench coat as whipped around the corner and ran after it, giggling. By the time he had turned the corner, the trench coat was already curling out of sight.

No matter how fast he ran, he could never catch up with his dragon. He continued following him down the unfamiliar hallways, up long staircases, and through large rooms that led to more hallways and rooms. His dragon never slowed, and no matter how hard the small royal tried, he never saw anything but the ends of his dragon's white trench coat.

Yami stepped through another room and stopped. It was a dead end, and his dragon was nowhere to be seen. There wasn't anything to be seen here. The room was completely empty and full of dust and cobwebs, like nothing had set foot in here since the mansion was first built. The chibi sneezed, before he froze, looking up at the ghostly hands reaching for him.

It was his haunter, and he seemed more solid than usual, more humanoid. He was still blurry, but the outline of features could be seen. A pair of faint, colorless eyes could be seen on his face. The hands seemed more solid than the rest of him.

The small royal backed away from those hands as they came closer; hovering to his cheeks as though they would cup them. Yami felt the cold touch of the ghostly hands on his face before the necklace grew warm around his neck and the apparition leapt back, as though he had been burned.

A large spike of hatred and anger flared up, making Yami flinch. His necklace grew hotter, burning his skin. Violet flames swirled around him, soft musical notes drifting softly around him. A phoenix flew from the flames and circled protectively around Yami.

The spirit's aura grew more with the sight of the phoenix. It stepped forward, a dark green flame dancing around it. With a loud shriek, the phoenix dove at the specter. The chibi whirled for the door, only for it to slam in his face. He whimpered as he reached for the door knob, wobbling and barely brushing it.

"_Kuri."_

Yami looked up as a ball of brown fluff with bright green eyes popped into existence beside him. Kuriboh flew up and tugged at the door knob as Yami looked back. The phoenix was gone, and the spirit was coming back. The chibi made a desperate leap for the door knob.

"Yami?" a familiar voice called, and the chibi yelped as the door burst open and he crashed to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, but Kuriboh and the spirit had vanished.

"There you are!"

Yami found himself being scooped up into Anzu's arms as the female scolded him and carried him away from the nightmarish room. The chibi relaxed once it was out of sight and laid his head on the brunette's shoulder. A second later, he had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Anzu yawned as the alarm clock went off and looked around the spacious guest room Mokuba had given her. That was just one of the perks of staying at the Kaiba Mansion: she didn't have to share sleeping space with anyone else. Kaiba had an entire wing of his Mansion devoted to guest rooms. There were at twenty rooms fully stocked and ready receive guests.

It had all the amenities a person would need, which included alarm clocks, fresh towels, soap, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, a house phone, TVs with over a thousand channels, a state-of-the-art computer complete with internet, and last but not least . . . _room service_.

Anzu had unplugged the phones in Honda and Jou's room so they couldn't call the kitchens demanding snacks at odd hours of the night and wake the staff up.

Mokuba had assured her that it was fine. The Kaibas had two separate staffs, one that worked during daylight hours and one that worked during the night, but she didn't want to infringe on Kaiba's home too much. He had allowed them to stay, but if they went overboard too much . . . Anzu was afraid of what methods he would use to kick them out.

She got out of bed and changed out of her pajamas, then left the room to wake the others up. Ryou was already awake, and sipping a hot cup of tea at the breakfast table tucked in the corner of his room. The British-born teen smiled cheerfully at her and waved his teaspoon in greeting.

Anzu had to whack Honda with a pillow a few times to wake him up, but after a minute or two of hitting him, she succeeded. Anzu didn't bother trying to prod Jou awake. She simply got the rinsing cup from his bathroom, filled it with ice cold water, and dumped it over his head.

Anzu felt a little bad about getting water all over the pillows, but it had the desired effect. Jou yelped and leapt out of bed. The blonde growled at her, but she simply threw him a towel and shoved him in the bathroom with a set of his clothes before leaving the room and going next door where Yugi and Yami were.

Flicking on the lights, she went over to draw back the curtains and turned to wake the twins up. Yugi lay within the tangle of blankets, holding on to a small pillow like a teddy bear. Anzu smiled at the sight, before it fell from her face. Yami was gone.

"Guys!"

She ran out of the room and was met with three curious stares as the boys leaned out of their rooms. "Yami's gone! We have to find him!" she yelled, before running down the hall and opening doors frantically. The others groaned and ran off to search the rest of the mansion. Ryou was sensible enough to stop and inform the staff about the missing chibi, and had the staff members searching for Yami as well.

Anzu continued running through the halls, opening doors and peering in, calling for Yami before going to the next door. She lost track of how much time she had been searching, and suspected she must have strayed farther into the mansion than anyone else, because she no longer crossed paths with anyone. She was getting rather frustrated at the numerous amounts of rooms she found. Who needed so many rooms anyways?

"Yami?" she called again, looking around the dusty corridors. There was a loud yelp and a door burst open and Yami crashed to the ground. "There you are!" Anzu scooped the dirty chibi up into her arms and started scolding him. She headed back the way she had come, not noticing the way Yami laid his head on her shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

Half an hour later, the gang was seated around a rather fancy dining table as breakfast was served to them. Jou's eyes widened with glee as he eyed the various dishes, most of them foreign. Honda was across from him, wearing the same exact expression. Anzu merely rolled her eyes and filled two plates with food, one for herself and the other for Yugi.

Ryou was across from her, doing the same thing for Yami. The British born teen had finally managed to get Yami to use his fork instead of picking things up with his fingers. As an insubstantial spirit with no need to eat, Anzu supposed that it made sense that he had no experience using eating utensils. Even on the little "date" Yugi had forced Yami on with her, he had eaten a hamburger, which only required hands to eat. From what she knew of Ancient Egypt, there hadn't been much silverware there either, except for the knives used to cut the meat.

Jii-chan was at one of the table with the ancient tomes from Yugi's room spread out around him, nursing a mug of coffee. He was adamant that none of the food came close to the old books. Although no one but Ryou, Yami, and Yugi could see him, Bakura hovered next to the old man, eyes scanning a tome, and turning the pages with the help of magic. The teens fidgeted nervously each time a page turned by itself, even after Ryou explained it was Bakura. Jii-chan took no mind of the page turning, except to lay a hand on the tome when one of Kaiba's staff wandered into the room.

They were searching for any clues to the curse that had been cast on Yami and Yugi. Ryou had told Jii-chan that they might not find the curse, but the old man had waved it aside. He reasoned that they could find which tome it came from even if it was gone by looking for a blank space or page where it had been written somewhere among the pages.

After breakfast, Anzu and Honda settled in the entertainment room with Yugi, watching him assemble the puzzles they had found in a cabinet there. Ryou was still in the dining room, so Bakura could help Jii-chan find the right tome, as the tomb robber couldn't go past fifteen feet from his host. Yami had wandered off to explore and Jou had followed him to make sure he didn't get into anything he shouldn't or accidently get lost.

The day passed slowly for the gang. Kaiba was at work, and Mokuba had gone with him to continue testing the new games. Anzu kept a close eye on Honda and Jou, making sure they didn't do anything to get them kicked out; either on accident or on purpose to tick the CEO off. But despite the fact that they had no other place to go, she would be glad when they left.

The mansion was giving her the creeps. For one, there were a lot of locked doors, and even entire wings were blocked off. All of Kaiba's staff refused to answer why, and even had some security guards start patrolling the hallways to make sure no one strayed near. Other than that bit of hostilely, the servants were kind and hospitable. Anything she wanted, they would go get it for her. Anzu had threatened Jou and Honda to make sure they didn't start abusing this power. In any case, she was unused on being waited on like this and it made her jittery.

The servants were everywhere, and she suspected Kaiba had instructed them to keep a close on his guests. Although she did wonder why Kaiba was so generous with the accommodations. All she expected was being given a room and meals. Not being waited on by his staff that came at her every beck and call.

"YAMI!" Jou's shout brought Anzu back into the present in time to find the blonde chasing a giggling chibi into the room. Unfortunately, Jou's foot got caught up in a corner of a rug, making him trip. His fall sent him sliding against the polished wooden floor and slamming into an elegant white pedestal. The priceless china vase tottered precariously on its stand before tipping forward over the edge towards an unsuspecting Jou who was just getting up.

A crimson glow shimmered around the vase before it could reach his head and it hovered in the air. Anzu's eyes near bugled out of her skull when Kaiba's butler walked by and set the vase back on the stand and delivered a tray of freshly baked cookies and crème puffs to Ryou without a second glance. Jou frowned confusedly at the expression on Anzu's face, unaware of what had just transpired as he climbed to his feet.

The butler gave them a formal Japanese bow and smiled slightly at Yami as he patted his head on the way out. That was another thing that baffled Anzu. While they treated the gang with polite respect, they seemed to almost _dote_ on Yami. The maids would smile at him as they passed him, and some gave him cookies and other sweets. The men patted his head affectionately just like the butler had just done.

And just now, the butler didn't even seem to notice the magic Yami had just used, or if he had, didn't care in the slightest. Just what was going on? And what was with Kaiba's staff, acting that way around Yami? She got the feeling that the tomb robber knew something the way he had been laughing earlier before Ryou had pushed him back into his soul room, or wherever they went when they weren't in control.

Anzu wanted to ask the tomb robber, but she was afraid he would either laugh and insult her, or be rude and not answer at all. Nobody else seemed to notice the staff's odd behavior. But then again, Honda and Jou weren't exactly the brightest of their group, and they were boys on top of that. They would ignore anything in favor of food, especially Jounochi.

Yami was dozing by the time lunchtime came rolling around, and Anzu decided to leave him where he was, peacefully dreaming away on the couch in Kaiba's massive living room. Or maybe it was the parlor? Anzu couldn't keep track of what the rooms were called as there were so many.

Almost an hour later, when the gang wandered back up from the dining room, Yami was nowhere to be found. The group groaned and set out to find him again. They searched fruitlessly for hours, but no one had seen him, and Yami had vanished into the intricate maze known as the Kaiba mansion. Anzu was ready to scream in frustration when a door opened and a dust covered Yami tottered out.

Yami didn't answer them when they questioned him where he's been all this time. Anzu quit the questioning when a maid offered to give Yami a bath and get him fresh clothes. She carried him to the adjoining bathroom of the room he shared with Yugi and gave him a bath herself. She was reluctant to let a stranger give either Yugi or Yami a bath, even if they were Kaiba's hand-picked staff. The whole time, Yami stared at her with unblinking crimson orbs.

Halfway through getting him dressed, she had grab Yami who had suddenly jumped from the bed and tried to bolt for the door. She barely to finish putting his shirt on when he broke her grip and ran giggling out the door. Afraid that he would disappear again, she followed the runaway chibi.

She was surprised to find him in the entrance hall latched onto Kaiba's leg as Mokuba stood there laughing. The pair had obviously just walked in the door, although Anzu was astonished the stoic man was home before midnight. He seemed the type to stay late at work and live off of coffee only.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at the chibi, before reaching down and prying him loose just as Isono came in the door with his things. Before Yami could reattach himself, Kaiba's faithful bodyguard plopped a stuffed toy into Yami's arms. Anzu stared at the blue eyes white dragon toy in Yami's arms before slowly turning to gape at Kaiba with a look of disbelief on her face.

The CEO ignored her and headed towards the dining room with Mokuba at his heels, where the smell of dinner was drifting through the halls. With a start, Anzu realized it _was_ dinnertime. She went to pick up Yami, only to find that Yami had already trailed off after Kaiba, hugging his new toy to him. After a moment, she came back to her senses and hurried after them.

Dinner was awkward. Kaiba sat at one end of the table, Mokuba opposite of him, and eating in silence. The gang sat on the other end of the table, looking at each other and wondering if talking was aloud at the dinner table here in the Kaiba mansion.

Yami pouted the entire time in Jou's lap. The blonde had taken away his stuffed dragon, although he had set it in the empty chair next to him, but didn't seem happy to see it. The other reason was because Jou refused to let him off his lap, to prevent him from trying to climb up in Kaiba's lap like he nearly did when dinner started.

None of them could stop taking peeks at Kaiba as he ate. Like Anzu, they had all imagined the guy living off the occasional meal and being sustained by coffee alone. Plus, he was at home, and it was barely past seven o'clock. Kaiba had always seemed a workaholic to them. The man who went to work early in the morning and stayed there until two o'clock in the morning before coming home and sleeping a few hours before going right back to work.

Kaiba didn't notice them, or if he did, he was completely ignoring them. Mokuba looked comfortable with the silence, and didn't seek to start any conversation or even look at the gang. He seemed absorbed in his food. Anzu couldn't tell if it was a farce or he was actually interested in what he was eating. But then again, he was a Kaiba, so of course it would be hard to tell.

Finally, Kaiba rose from the table and left the room, and Jou wrapped his arm around Yami who was trying to chase after the brunette. Jou seemed irked by Yami's fascination with the arrogant CEO. Yami glared up at him, before wriggling loose enough to lean over and grab the stuffed dragon. He locked his arms around it and the look he gave Jou just dared him to try to take it again.

In the back of Ryou's mind, a certain spirit of a tomb robber was torn between laughing at Yami's childish defiance and whacking the blonde mutt over the head for his stupidity. He could not believe how dense these people were. He was starting doubt they'd get it even if it slapped them in the face and danced naked on the table wearing a tea cozy. (2)

* * *

Over an hour after dinner, a mischievous chibi left a certain blonde running down a hallway screaming like a little girl, lost in an illusion of a large chocolate covered donut attempting to eat him. Kaiba's staff stared after the blonde racing past them, yelling something about: "IT'S GOING TO EAT ME!" and wondering if they should call the mental institution.

Meanwhile, a happy little royal was on his toes as he reached for the silver door knob of a door, his stuffed dragon hanging in one hand. There was a swirl of shadows and Kuriboh popped into existence beside him. He flew up and wrapped his claws around the silver knob. It turned with a faint click and Yami ran inside.

The walls were plain white, and the room was devoid of any furniture other than the large oak desk in the back of the room complete with a large leather armchair. Two large Palladian windows loomed behind the desk, its cream colored cascade curtains tied back to let the fading sunlight in. Filing cabinets stood in one corner of the room while a lonely potted plant sat in the other.

Yami ignored all this in favor of the room's occupant, which sat in the leather chair clacking away at his computer, a blue coffee mug sitting beside the machine. Yami climbed under the desk as Kuriboh went _poof _into the shadows. Kaiba gave a start when he clambered up into his lap and curled up there, hugging the stuffed Duel Monster to him. When he showed no signs of moving, or doing anyone other cuddle the toy in his lap, Kaiba went back to work.

A few hours later, Kaiba saved his work and shut down his computer before glancing down at the chibi in his lap. Yami's cheek rested against his lower stomach as he dozed peacefully, still holding on to the stuffed dragon possessively. Kaiba brushed his fingers gently across the soft cheek, making Yami mewl slightly in his sleep and shift closer to the touch.

Kaiba chuckled, and stood, holding Yami carefully in his arms and left the office. The servants he passed smiled at the sight of the chibi in his arms with the dragon. Kaiba set Yami on the plum purple bed sheets next to Yugi and left the room, completely ignoring the presence of the tomb robber as he left the room, although he could feel the thief grinning at him all the way down the hall.

Somewhere in the Kaiba mansion, a grandfather clock chimed eleven. A door opened softly and a small crimson eyed child wandered out and disappeared unnoticed into the dark mazelike hallways of the silent mansion.

* * *

This chapter was an odd one, and all sorts of things I didn't plan happened. Like the staff . . . and Kuriboh popping up. But then again, it makes sense that he did when Yami was in trouble. Kuriboh is Yami's Ka monster, which fits because he's more of a protector than anything else.

Personally, I've always thought the whole idea of Kaiba living solely on coffee a dumb idea. With Kaiba's physique and health, it doesn't seem plausible to me. Neither does working until two in the morning. Yes, I agree with the fact that Kaiba's a workaholic, but he is more than just a CEO. He's a big brother. The reason he is so obsessed with the company is make sure that Mokuba never goes wanting. That includes making sure he spends time with him. I think Kaiba would take care of himself because Mokuba would want him to, and if he gets sick and weak from living on coffee only, he wouldn't be able to maintain his image or keep up with his work. Plus he's too tall to not have gotten the proper nutrition in his teenage years.

(1) "Sedjer, dep taneen" translates to "Sleep, my dragon." Remember, in this fic Yami can do Egyptian magic too.

(2) I once read a fic, called The TeaCosy by Ireina Kurotsuki, where Yami and Yugi were arguing over what a tea cozy was until Bakura came in the room naked with a tea cozy on his head. It just randomly popped up into my head when I was writing this part so I wrote it in.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and review please!


	6. Mimic

Okay, this is the shortest chapter so far, but it's more of a filler than anything else. My brain got stuck and I needed to get this out of the way before I could get back on track.

Disclaimer: Don't own the show, just the plot bunny hopping about my head and Mimic.

* * *

_Chapter 6: Mimic_

* * *

The sound of clacking filled the otherwise quiet office as blue eyes scanned the screen. A half empty mug sat next to him, its contents long gone cold. It was one of his days off and while he promised Mokuba he would not go into work, he had never promised not to work from his home office.

One slender eyebrow twitched in irritation as the sound of people running around sounded from the other side of his door. Annoyed by the commotion, he made a promise to get his office sound proofed as soon as possible and wondered why he had not done it before. Just why were people running about so early in the morning anyways?

The door burst open, distracting him from his thoughts as Ryou dashed in, eyes wild. "Kaiba! Is Yami with you?"

" . . . No?" Seto answered, forehead ceasing in confusion at the question from the panicking British born teen. "Why?"

"He's missing. Oh, this is just what happened yesterday! He keeps disappearing! This is the third time!" Before Kaiba could open his mouth to demand to know why he had not been told of this, the white haired teen was gone. The CEO growled in frustration and stood up before striding out the door.

His staff was rushing about in frenzy and Kaiba snatched the shirt of the nearest one and demanded to know what had happened yesterday while he was at work. It all spilled from the frightened employee's lips and Kaiba let go, letting the servant dash off around the corner.

"That's ENOUGH!" he shouted, making the rest of his staff freeze where they were. "Return to your normal posts. I'll handle this," he growled before stalking off down the hall as the members of his staff did as he ordered, muttering obscenities about his staff under his breath. He hated not being informed of what was going on around him, _especially_ in his own home.

He stomped past Anzu and the Mutt who looked after him curiously as he went by, still cursing his staff. He had no idea where he was going, but after several minutes of turning corners and wandering down hallways he stopped, feeling slightly foolish. Looking around, he found a door that was slightly ajar, when he knew for a fact that it should have been closed. And _locked_.

He shoved it open further and strode into the room. It was empty of furniture except for a lone armchair sitting before an old fashioned stone fireplace. Yami was curled up in one corner of the large green chair, his cheek resting on the side of the armrest, arms held against his chest. Kaiba quietly walked over to the armchair and pulled Yami into his arms.

Yami cooed in his sleep and unconsciously tangled his fingers into Kaiba's shirt. Kaiba smirked at the possessive action as he left the room to find the dweeb patrol. It wouldn't do to have them wandering all over his house and breaking things looking for Yami.

* * *

Anzu kept looking back and forth between Kaiba and the chibi curled up half asleep in the chair next to the CEO nibbling on a piece of fruit. Kaiba had joined them for breakfast, and after a round of puzzled questions, Mokuba had explained that today was one of Kaiba's days off.

Earlier, Anzu had been forced to shove the Jounochi into the living room to finish his breakfast there to prevent him from murdering Kaiba after he had offered Jou a chocolate covered donut with a smirk on his face. A snicker from Honda had the pointy haired brunette joining him. (1)

Ryou was sitting quietly across from her, eating slowly with a misty look in his eyes that told her that he was conversing with Bakura. Jii-chan sat next to her, still riffling through the tomes. Beside him was a large crate filled with discarded tomes that had already been double checked. Anzu had her own tome on her lap.

After realizing that they were only looking for a blank spot where the curse had been written down and not knowing how to read hieroglyphics wasn't an obstacle, Anzu had taken to helping scan the tomes. Ryou and Honda had been helping too, although Jii-chan point blank refused to allow Jounochi to touch any of the tomes.

Anzu secretly agreed with his decision. With Jou's luck, he would pick up the tome they were looking for and destroy it in some accidental way.

An hour later, Anzu found herself in the large entertainment room with the others after grandpa had told her and Ryou to go play. Mokuba had somehow gotten Kaiba out of his office and into the room with them, although he sat on the farthest couch from them and typed away at his laptop. The lone female of the group was having a tough time keeping Jounochi away from the CEO before something drastic occurred.

Yami sitting on the floor by Kaiba's legs, scribbling something on some computer paper with a pencil while Yugi colored the pictures in one of Mokuba's old coloring books next to him. The chibi was humming something under his breath and swaying to a tune no one but himself could hear.

All movement stilled in the room as music drifted to their ears, soft and foreign. There was a flurry of movement as the teens searched about for the source of the noise only to stop and stare as drawings floated off Yami's paper and danced around the air above his head.

They grew in size and color, becoming women in white linen dresses that danced around two figures. One was bigger than the other, and as they watched, details became clearer. It was a woman with long raven black hair in a blue linen dress trimmed with gold. She held the hands of a small boy with tri colored hair wearing a kilt with golden crown upon his head.

Then the woman began to sing, guiding the child through a slow, foreign dance. Almost immediately both Yugi and Yami's eyes began to droop. As the singing continued, Yugi's head fell against his dark's shoulder, the chibi fast asleep. By the time the last notes dwindled away, Yami had joined him. The dancing figures flared before fading into nothingness. Several pairs of eyes glanced at each other, unsure of what to think of the strange manifestation.

The silence was interrupted when a maid came in and announced lunch was ready. Kaiba detached Yami from his leg, the chibi had fell against it and wrapped his arms around it like a teddy bear, before stalking off back to his office with his laptop. While the rest of them ate at the dining table, Kaiba had one of the maids bring a tray up to his office for him.

The gang returned to the entertainment room in boredom after lunch, to discover Yami, whom they had left sleeping on the couch when he refused to wake, gone _again_. The group sighed in exasperation. Instead of running around the mansion looking for him, they decided to let Yami wander; he had turned up on his own before. However, Anzu informed the staff to keep an eye out for him and bring him to them if they spotted him.

She wasn't really worried though. Kaiba had excellent security systems, so the chances of psychos being able to reach Yami here were minimum. Plus there was the fact that Anzu was pretty sure the staff would come to his defense. With all their doting, it was obvious they adored Yami for some reason. Most of the women doted on Yugi too, but it wasn't the same as the attention Yami was getting.

Even Kaiba was being pretty tolerant of Yami, for being his greatest rival and despising anything to do with the former Ancient Egyptian spirit now that she thought about it. She was pretty sure he was the one that had bought the stuffed dragon that the bodyguard had given Yami. And he didn't scowl angrily when Yami glomped his leg either. Or mind his presence this morning. Not to mention Kaiba was the one that found Yami this morning . . . .

Anzu froze; there was no way . . . . _Did Kaiba like Yami?_

* * *

Currently, the object of Anzu's of whirling thoughts was glaring at a certain adorable chibi who was holding his laptop hostage and looking up at him with wide pleading eyes. Damn . . . why did he have to be a chibi? But then again, as a teenager Yami would have . . . _other_ things to convince him with. "Fine," he snapped.

Yami cheered and scrambled off the desk with Kaiba's laptop before Kaiba could stop him. With a sigh, Kaiba got up and followed him. Within a few moments, Kaiba was sitting across from Yami at the unoccupied dining table with a chess board between them. Well, almost. The table was too wide and Yami was too short to sit in the chair, so Yami was sitting cross-legged on top of the polished mahogany table in front of the board instead.

Kaiba's laptop rested next to Yami, his stuffed dragon on top of it as though it standing guard over the machine. Kaiba's mouth dropped open when the "stuffed toy" moved and gave out a puff of smoke. Yami gave him a devilish smile and Kaiba smirked, before reached out to stroke the dragon on the head, even if he didn't know how it was here. The Items were gone, weren't they?

Yami let out a whine at being ignored and Kaiba turned back to the game and moved one of his white pawns. Yami moved one of his pieces and focused on the game. Neither of them noticed when their audience showed up in the form of at least a dozen staff members.

Kaiba tried not to scowl at the giggling chibi as his King was captured, before finally noticing their audience. His frosty glare soon sent them scurrying, and when he looked back towards Yami . . . he was gone. And so was the dragon. Kaiba glanced around the room, even under the table, but the chibi had vanished.

Kaiba shrugged, before picking up his laptop and returning to his office to try to finish some more work before Mokuba came and dragged him to spend some more time with the stupid friendship posse.

* * *

Mimic followed the crimson eyed chibi as he wandered through the mazelike hallways. Like all Shadow Monsters, Mimic had been born from a human soul. However, Mimic was special. Normally, there was only one type of the same monster in the Realm, with none quite like it. But Mimic was an almost exact imitation of the true Blue Eyed White Dragon. There were differences like the fact that Mimic was male, whereas Kisara, the original, was female. Then there was the fact that Mimic was nothing more than a baby dragon, with not much firepower.

That wasn't what made Mimic special though. It was because Mimic had been born of bond formed between two brothers: Mokuba and Kaiba, who promised to be by each other's side forever.

In the beginning, Mimic had been nothing more than that promise, a light in the darkness of lost innocence. But that light had been forgotten in Kaiba's arrogance, when winning became more important than the promise made between him and Mokuba. When Yami shattered Kaiba's heart and forced him to reassemble the pieces, that light was found again, in the remembrance of that promise. And from a small shard of Kaiba's soul, life had been given to that small light of hope.

That light formed itself in the image that Kaiba loved the most. The Blue Eyes White Dragon. But it will never grow to be the powerful dragon Kisara was. For Mimic was born from the child that remained buried in Kaiba for so long. The child who had stood in front of that orphanage so long ago made a promise to his baby brother. And so a child the dragon would remain.

But however childish the dragon was, it was by no means weak or unintelligent. Kaiba did not know the true the nature of his existence, and as a child, Yami had forgotten him, but Mimic had not forgotten how he came to be. Yami had shattered Kaiba's heart, which led to Mimic's creation and set Kaiba back on the right path.

Mimic had always been loyal towards the former Pharaoh because of this. Part of it, sprung from Kaiba's own admiration and respect for Yami, and although he denied his past life, the love they shared so long ago, and the love the CEO had for him now. And Mimic would always be loyal to Yami because of that.

* * *

True to Kaiba's earlier thought, once dinner was over and Yugi and Yami (who had toddled in sometime during dinner after several hours of being MIA) were sent to bed, Mokuba dragged him into the parlor to play a game with them. After a large amount of ridiculous squabbling, and earning themselves a glare from Kaiba, the group decided on Monopoly.

Thirty minutes later, Kaiba had won the first round and sat out as they started the next game. Mokuba refused to let him leave, so he was forced to watch them play. Anzu kept casting glances at him for some reason, making him grit his teeth in annoyance. He was distracted by a flicker of movement outside the window and turned towards it.

There was a whitish shape moving around on the dark shape of the roof along the wing of the mansion opposite of them. He frowned. What could possibly be on the roof? It wasn't likely that anything had gotten through his security system and he's never heard of any night prowlers with white fur. He stood and walked to the window, intending to get a closer look.

"What are you looking at, Nii-sama?" Mokuba asked, as he and the dweeb patrol noticed his movements.

"There's something on the roof . . ." he answered, grabbing the handle and opening the window. The others crowded around him to look.

"Is that an animal?" Anzu asked.

Ryou's hair spiked as the tomb robber took over. His eyes widened as he looked the white shape. "Oh shit. That's not an animal! That's the baka Pharaoh!" He took off down the hall with the others on his heels. They burst into the bedroom Yami and Yugi were sharing to find Yugi dead asleep on the bed. A desk stood in front of an open window, a lamp shining down on the scattered wood pieces upon it. There was a small stretch of roof outside the window.

Bakura took no notice of it as he leapt on the desk and edged out on the roof. Yami was crawling dangerously close to the edge, feeling around for something. "Oi! You royal pain the ass, get back here!" he commanded, moving carefully. Sure, he was a thief, but most buildings in Ancient Egypt had FLAT roofs made of adobe. Not slanting roofs with slippery shingles! It was a wonder Yami hadn't fell off the side yet.

Yami let out a whine as he picked him up, flailing and making him fall back, dropping Yami. The chibi tottered on the edge for a moment before he reached down and grabbed something. Bakura muttered a curse as he pulled Yami into his arms and made his way back towards the window.

Jou took him from his hands as the tomb robber climbed in through the window and closed it, flipping the latch. He hopped off the desk, knocking off several tiny objects. A second later, the tomb robber yelped and was hopping around the room on one foot with a crimson eyed chibi glaring at him.

"HE BIT ME!" Bakura shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Yami, who was kneeling on the ground and gently gathering up the wooden pieces from off the floor where Bakura had knocked them off. Bakura blinked at him, before he was promptly shoved into his soul room by his other half. Ryou knelt down next to Yami and helped him pick up the pieces.

Kaiba stared at the wooden pieces in puzzlement. Just what were they and why Yami treating them like precious china? It wasn't as wood would break just by picking it up. Reaching down, he snatched a piece from the desk, before there was a furious tug on his pants. He looked down to see Yami scowling up at him.

"Mine," he growled, pointing at the piece in his hands. Kaiba rolled his eyes and ignored him, only to have Ryou snatch the piece from his hands and place it in a box with the other pieces he gathered.

"What do you think you are doing?" Kaiba snapped, before Ryou placed a finger to his lips and pointed at Yami who had climbed back onto the desk and was fiddling with the pieces.

"That puzzle belonged to Yami back in Ancient Egypt and seems to be very precious to him. His mother gave it back to him a few nights ago," Ryou explained, making Kaiba stare at him.

"Are you trying to tell me that Yami's mother, who's supposed to have been dead and buried for several millennia, came back from the _dead_ to give Yami a fricking _puzzle?_" Kaiba snarled. "And just why have I not been told of this?"

Jounochi snorted, "Why the fuck do you care?"

"Stop it! Both of you," Anzu interrupted, stepping between the two growling males. "Why don't we all go down to the parlor and discuss this like mature adults?" she commanded, before shoving them all out the room. She pulled Yami away from the puzzle, much to his annoyance, and put him back to bed.

By the time she got to the parlor, Ryou was explaining the last of everything going on to Kaiba who was sitting on the couch with an irritated look on his face. Anzu wasn't sure exactly what the look was for as she cautiously passed him to take a seat next to Honda on one of the other couches.

A few moments of silence passed as Kaiba leaned back and rubbed his temples. "So there's some maniacal ghost stalking Yami that no one else can see but him, and _none_ of you felt the need to tell me? I should kick you all out right now."

The gang shifted uncomfortably as the CEO stood and stalked out of the room, muttering angrily under his breath. Mokuba sighed and followed his brother out, calling his good nights over his shoulder. Everyone glanced at each other before slowly heading up to their rooms and to bed.

* * *

Anzu finally gets some sense in this chapter. I know many people like to bash her, and I agree her friendship speeches are annoying, but she is the one that keeps the gang together. As a female I thought it made more sense that she'd figure it out before the rest of the gang.

Rafael figured it out first, because while I was watching the show he just struck me as the type to focus on logic and common sense than rather becoming ignorant of things that the others wouldn't notice because they're so used to Kaiba being an asshole and wouldn't think of the possibility that Kaiba could love one of their gang.

I created Mimic. I was thinking of that episode where you see part of the mistreatment of Seto by Gozaburo and Mokuba draws him a BEWD card. Then, for some reason I remembered Pegasus's BEWD Toon and that scene where Seto and Mokuba are standing outside the orphanage holding hands and Seto promised to protect him. Those ideas collided together, and this is what my mind conjured up.

(1) Remember last chapter, when Yami cast an illusion on Jou and made him think a giant chocolate covered donut was going to eat him? *smirks* I couldn't resist the image of Kaiba offering him a chocolate covered donut. It's such a Kaiba-like thing to do.

Please review.


	7. Doggie?

Dear readers, I apologize for the extremely long wait. This would have been up two weeks ago, but I've lost my internet. My dear sister is allowing me to use her internet to update this.

Disclaimers: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Warnings: Um . . . cussing.

* * *

_Chapter Seven: Doggie?_

* * *

It was a strange and peculiar scene the sun shone its light on early the next morning. As usual, the gang sat on one side, while Mokuba and Kaiba sat at the other end. The only difference to this table setting was the fact that Jii-chan was in the middle, with Ryou and Yugi across from him, and Yami was once again next to Kaiba. Dishes were laid out and breakfast was being eaten. Except: only one half of the table was eating. The other half sat frozen in various stages of shock, confusion, and freaked out looks.

Jounochi, for example, was sitting wide eyed and slack jawed with a fork loaded with scrambled eggs halfway to his mouth. Honda was the one with the freaked out look, his fork dropped on the table with his hand still hovering in the air where he had been holding it. Anzu was holding a spoon in her mouth, blinking rapidly in confusion towards the other end of the table like the rest of them.

Jii-chan seemed too wrapped up in searching through the tomes to notice the table scene although if you looked closely you could see the faint twitching of his lips. Yugi was oblivious to it all. He was having too much fun dabbing his hands in the syrup and licking it off and giggling. Ryou kept his head down, allowing his long hair to hide his grinning face. Bakura was laughing in his soul room. Mokuba was snickering in his glass of orange juice. Kaiba was steadfast ignoring the rest of them.

The main reason for this situation? _Seto Kaiba_ was home again from work today. Of course, none of them realized it was the weekend and it was standard routine for the Kaiba brothers to spend Saturday morning at home and go in at noon, then come home before dinner and spend Sunday home from work. Or in Kaiba's case, work from his home office rather than his office at headquarters.

The other reason for the gang's mixed expressions? Yami was sitting next to Kaiba with his stuffed dragon in his lap. Well, that part was all fine and dandy. So was the strange sight of Kuriboh hovering next to him nibbling on an apple slice. The problem was the Blue Eyes White Dragon miniature perched on the back of Yami's seat, releasing puffs of smoke and swinging his tail along with the occasional flaps of his wings.

The gang had already been shocked enough when Kaiba had sat down to breakfast. Kuriboh floating in behind Ryou who had walked in with Yami and Yugi had been a slight surprise. It was ignored when Ryou told them that Kuriboh was Yami's Ka and could manifest itself into the physical world anytime it pleased because Yami was still connected with the shadows.

Then all of the sudden, a small dragon about the size of a medium-sized dog and resembling Kaiba's beloved Blue Eyes White Dragon had just popped into existence. The situation took a turn for the bizarre when Kaiba had glanced between the stuffed toy and the dragon perched on the back of Yami's chair and smiled softly as he rubbed the dragon's head, making it give out a pleased rumble with a fluff of its wings.

_Kaiba smiled! _

The gang nearly had a synchronized heart attack. That is, until Kaiba threw them an icy glare partnered with one of his trademarked sneers. The result which was a series of sweat drops from the gang.

The combination of shock, confusion, amusement, and ignorance (intended and unintended) led up the positions the occupants found themselves in at that particular moment. Needless to say, it was a very peculiar scene indeed.

However, when two of Kaiba's kitchen maids came to check up on them, neither of them took any notice of the strange sight. They simply took the empty dishes back to the kitchen and refilled their cups. Either they thought Kuriboh and the mini-dragon were holograms or they simply didn't notice them. Although the gang kind of doubted it was the latter. So it had to be the former, because there was _no way_ Kaiba's staff would believe in magic.

The guy pretty much hand-picked them all from what Mokuba had told them. So the CEO would have picked people like him that didn't believe in magic or all that other "mumbo jumbo crap," to put it in Kaiba's words. Right? Heck, they wouldn't be too surprised if they all turned out to be a bunch of bodyguards in disguise with Kung Fu and Judo moves up their sleeves. Or something like that.

Silence reigned over the table for a long time before Anzu got enough coherence to speak. "You know, for being your handpicked staff, those people seem pretty ignorant of the things that go around here."

"What are you talking about? This is the best staff I could have possibly picked anywhere in this country," Kaiba snorted, not even bothering to glance at her.

"Um, hello? Blatantly ignoring the fact that there's a two Duel Monsters in the room and floating vases? Either they're really stupid or you just pay them to ignore any odd things that go on around here," Anzu persisted.

"Oh please. They know all about our little adventures with the Shadow Realm and the Millennium Items. They're not ignorant – they wouldn't be part of my staff if they were. They're seen all the odd things that have happened with their own eyes. Are you forgetting all the times I've involved my security teams when we were in a mess? Doma . . . Battle City? Is any of this ringing a bell in your silly little heads?"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" There was a massive anime fall at the other end of the table.

Kaiba snorted and stood up from the table and leaving the room. Yami skipped off happily after him, Mimic and Kuriboh following in the air behind the adorable chibi. Mokuba was trying hard not to choke on his orange juice as he looked down on the frozen forms of Honda, Jounochi, and Anzu fallen from their chairs.

Yugi had climbed out of his seat was giggling like mad as he poked the cheek of an unresponsive Honda. Jii-chan's only reaction was to flip a page. Meanwhile, Ryou was having a conversation with his yami.

[[Hmm. I thought there was something fishy going on. Though now that I think about it, the fact that the bastard priest's slaves knew all about the magic isn't really that surprising]] Bakura mused.

[BAKURA! They're _servants_, not slaves. They get paid for their work. And quit calling Kaiba a priest, you know he hates being reminded of his past life.]

[[Hmph. It's not like he can hear me. Hey . . . let me take over.]]

[What? _Why?_]

Bakura didn't answer as he pushed Ryou into his soul room and grinned evilly. Mokuba watched him suspiciously as the thief dashed out of the room. Five minutes later he returned with a handful of . . . were those sharpies? Mokuba took another look. They were – half a dozen brand new sharpies each in a different color. What was a three thousand year old tomb robber doing with _sharpies?_

Bakura snickered as he stood over Jounochi, before uncapping the pink sharpie and smirking. Mokuba had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from howling in laughter as the thief went to work. Within minutes, the three stunned teenagers sported colorful lines and drawings on their faces. The majority of them were hieroglyphics that made Ryou sigh as he heard Bakura snicker their meanings.

His yami had written "dog" and other related names all over Jou's face in various forms of writing, which included Egyptian hieroglyphs, Kanji, Arabic, and Latin (which made Ryou wonder how the former tomb robber knew those written languages. Only royalty and nobility knew how to write back then.) Likewise, there were doggie bones, fire hydrants, and puppies all over his face. He had also drawn a dog collar around the blonde's neck with a tag that read "High Priest's Puppy" in Egyptian. The whole masterpiece had been done in the pink sharpie.

Anzu had been next, her face art done in red. Bakura had drawn broken hearts and phrases like "Friendship Sucks!" all over her face in Kanji so that she could read it. He had also drawn a noose around her neck accompanied the words "Death of Friendship" along with some unpleasant nicknames in hieroglyphics, which Ryou was thankful for. She would have exploded if she had read even a quarter of the names his yami called her.

Honda got the purple marker. His face mostly had pictures on it. The largest of these pictures was the outline of a monkey's face that encompassed his whole face. Bananas and coconut trees had been drawn around it. There was also an image of Shizuka and Otogi kissing. There were a few half-hearted names such as "dork" and "monkey-boy" but nothing quite as rude or insulting as Anzu's and Jou's had been.

Ryou face-palmed himself when Bakura shoved the markers into Yugi's hands and ran off, leaving the chibi to blame for the graffiti on the three teens' faces when they recovered from their shock. He was certainly giggling loud enough to be the culprit.

Mokuba shook his head and tried to keep from laughing as he picked Yugi up and vacated the room before they snapped out of their stupor. Jii-chan hummed as he gathered up the volumes and followed his lead. No one in their right minds would want to be within ear-shot of Jounochi when he discovered the markings on his face.

Sure enough, several minutes later, all movements stilled at the scream of rage echoing from the dining room.

Elsewhere in the mansion, servants looked up in confusion. Bakura sniggered. Kaiba growled something about "that baka inu" as he stabbed at his keyboard in annoyance, making Yami cock his head at him from where he sat on the floor assembling a puzzle. Mokuba was rolling around on the floor with laughter as Yugi watched him curiously.

Jounochi stormed through the mansion, leaving servants trying to stifle giggles in his wake. They all knew of the dog jokes their master directed at the blonde, and they were clearly amused to see a collar drawn around his neck. The blonde was on a mission. There were three people who could have done this, and he was going to find out which one it was!

Searching for Bakura was useless, so he opted for Kaiba. Yami was with him anyways, and knowing the chibi, it was probably him. So all he had to do was find that bastard's office. The only problem was . . . he had no idea where he was.

Jou looked around at the endless amount of doors and the hallways that stretched on forever. "DAMN IT! WHY DOES THAT BASTARD HAVE SO MANY ROOMS?!"

Yami cocked his head as Kuriboh cooed inquiringly in his arms. Kaiba watched him in puzzlement as the chibi ran out the door with Kuriboh in his arms. The miniature Blue Eyes remained curled up on one corner of his desk, releasing small puffs of smoke every time it breathed. Shrugging, he returned to his work.

Meanwhile, Yami wandered through the halls, peeking through doors and peering down empty hallways. The sounds of low muttering and angry growls caught his attention and he turned a corner, following the sounds. A second later he crashed into someone's leg with a squeak. He looked up into honey gold eyes and cooed as he latched onto the blonde's leg.

"Yami! Hey there . . . you wouldn't know how to get back to the others, now do you?" Jou asked, bending down, his face art temporarily forgotten. Yami blinked at him, Kuriboh hovering next to his head as he made soft _Kuri_ sounds, before he pointed down the hallway and skipped off with his Ka. Jou had to race after him to avoid losing the chibi.

Yami ran into a half open doorway and Jou burst through the door and nearly fell flat on his face from the momentum. The first thing he aware of was a pair of ice blue eyes staring at him. Yami had led him straight into Kaiba's office. Kaiba's lips twitched as he surveyed the blonde.

Jou glared at him, "What the hell are you staring at?!" he demanded.

A smirk slowly spread across the CEO's face. "Have you looked in a mirror yet, baka inu?"

Honey gold eyes blinked in confusion before his face reddened in anger and embarrassment. He had forgotten all about the drawings and hieroglyphics on his face. He growled at the brunette before stomping out of the office to find the nearest bathroom in order to scrub the marker off. Yami watched him leave before clambering up his dragon's lap and onto his desk.

Mimic lifted his head and released a puff of smoke at the chibi, making him giggle. Kaiba resumed his work as Yami started playing with the dragon. He glanced at the clock several hours later and shut down his laptop after saving his work. He picked up Yami with one arm, and the dragon landed on his shoulder, rubbing his smooth angular head against his cheek affectionately. Kuriboh trailed in the air behind them.

He quickly located the dweeb patrol in the entertainment room to find Mokuba waiting for him. The Mutt seemed to have succeeded in scrubbing off the pink sharpie marker. He set a pouting Yami down onto the couch and the dragon glided off his shoulder and curled up in the chibi's lap. He turned away so the Mutt wouldn't see the soft smile on his face.

"Come on, Mokuba."

"Coming Nii-sama!" Mokuba called, running after his elder brother as he walked out the door.

* * *

Lunch time passed quickly, and Anzu was back in the dining room helping Jii-chan flip through the tomes. One of the security guards had retrieved the tomes from Ryou's apartments, and Ishizu had sent over even more. With the additional books, they weren't even halfway finished with the pile and it was just the two of them searching now.

Ryou had been helping, but the tomb robber decided it was too boring to watch Ryou flick through dusty pages and ran off somewhere after taking control of Ryou's body. Jou still wasn't allowed near the tomes. Honda had tried helping, but after he accidently tore a page and grandpa nearly blew a fuse, he decided he was safer helping Jou entertain the twins.

Anzu had once suggested that Yami could help them, but the chibi understood the hieroglyphics and thought it was more fun to cast the curses than flip through the pages looking for a blank spot. Jii-chan had shooed him out when one of those curses hit Yugi and made his skin turn a bright green color. Luckily, the counter-curse had been written under it and they were able to turn him back to normal.

Yami was in a nearby room, playing some sort of game with Yugi, Kuriboh and the mini Blue Eyes which Yami insisted was called Mimic. Jou kept well back from the group. He had said something earlier about Kaiba and his stupid dragons, and Mimic had chomped down on his arm. It had only left a red mark, but the blonde was wary of the Shadow Monster now that he knew it was smart enough to understand him.

Jou grinned as Yami chased a giggling Yugi around the room, only for Kuriboh and Mimic to pounce on him. Every time Yami nearly caught Yugi, the two Shadow creatures would leap onto his back and weigh him down long enough for Yugi to escape, then the chase would start all over again.

"GUYS!"

Jou nearly fell off the couch in shock as Anzu burst into the room, waving her arms frantically. Yami and Yugi froze where they were and stared curiously at her. Yami's head was cocked while Yugi's wide amethyst orbs were blinking slowly. The tip of his tongue could be seen poking out between his lips like a curious cat.

"Jii-chan . . ." she panted, "Jii-chan's got back troubles again. We need to go to the hospital." She paused for a moment, looking around, before taking a deep breath. "TOMB ROBBER! GIVE RYOU BACK CONTROL AND TELL HIM TO GET HIS BUTT IN HERE!"

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Ryou walked into the room, brushing feathers off his arms and his face tinted pink. "Ah, hello everyone. You were looking for me?" he asked, turning to Anzu.

The lone female of the group stared at him. "Do I want to know what the thief was doing . . . ?"

"No, not really," Ryou answered with a nervous chuckle and rubbing the back of his head. "Although I don't think Kaiba will be very pleased when he comes home . . ."

"Oh . . . right. Well then, I guess me and you should take Jii-chan to the hospital! I'm sure one of Kaiba's servants can drive us. You two can stay here and watch the twins!" Anzu said before grabbing Ryou's wrist and running out of the room. Jou and Honda stared slack jawed after her.

"Did she just . . . take Ryou with her . . . and leave us here . . . to be at Kaiba's mercy when he discovers whatever Bakura did?" Honda asked weakly.

"She . . . did . . ."

Both Jou and glanced at each other before they eyes rolled up inside their head and they crashed facedown onto the ground. Yugi blinked cutely as he stared down at Honda. He crouched down and giggled as he poked the unresponsive brunette's cheek. Yami leaned over Jou, tapping on the back of his head and looking up at his hikari.

Frowning, he glanced around the room for something that could help. His eyes landed on the small dragon curled up on a footstool and preening himself. A wide mischievous grin stretched across his face. Mimic's head turned towards him, as though sensing the chibi's thoughts.

Yami pointed to Jou and made a chomping motion with his own mouth. With a flash, Mimic shot towards the unwary blonde and latched onto his rear end. With a loud yelp Jou jumped up and lurched forward, stumbling over Honda who shot up in surprise and two ran around the room in panic before colliding with each other and sliding back down to the ground.

Mimic settled himself on Yami, back feet resting on his shoulders while his forelimbs flattened his hair and the dragon's head lay comfortably on the soft mass of hair as his tail curled loosely around the chibi's neck. Jou growled at the smug look upon the dragon's face. He stepped forward threatening, only to stop dead when Yami looked at him with wide watering eyes that screamed cuteness.

He turned away, muttering something about the unfairness of chibi eyes, unaware of Yami smirking behind his back. Yugi's giggling caught his attention and he glanced over to see the chibi had climbed up onto the coffee table and was hopping about in an energetic manner. He paused in mid step and looked up at something before he squealed "Doggie!" and held his arms up.

The smile dropped from Yami's face and he dived at Yugi, knocking his other half off the table a split second before something cleaved the table in two right where Yugi had been standing. Honda screamed in a high pitched voice and grabbed onto at the same time Jou grabbed onto him.

A second later Jou relaxed and snorted. "Yami, that's not funny. Quit playing around with your little prank illusions," he scolded the chibi. Yami stared at him with wide, frightened eyes before something invisible yanked him from his protective crouch over a crying Yugi and threw him on the couch. With a faint chink, his mother's necklace fell to the ground, its clasp broken.

"Oh shit! I don't think Yami's pulling a prank!" Honda launched himself towards Yugi only to smack into something hard. He groaned, before something grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tossed him across the room to slam into the back wall, dazed.

Yami leapt off the couch and grabbed Yugi's hand before dashing out of the room with him. Jou ran after them, leaving Honda to scramble after his best friend, still wobbling from his impact against the wall.

The chibitized Pharaoh had retreated into the kitchen with his hikari, both huddled against the cabinet below the sink. Yugi had his head buried in Yami's chest while the bigger chibi had his arms wrapped tightly around him and looking defiantly at the unseen assailant.

"YAAAHHHH!" Jou burst into the room swinging a baseball bat and praying that he would hit the invisible threat. With a solid whump, the end of the bat slammed into something and a stool sitting before the counter was demolished as the unseen attacker crashed into it.

Honda ran into the kitchen then, yelling a high pitched war cry as he brandished a large black umbrella. Jounochi would have laughed at the sight, except Honda's wild strikes hit something other than air . . . in two separate places . . . with the same swing.

Jou turned back to the destroyed stool as there was a scrape and pieces of wood started to rise into the air and then drop back down, as though something had been sitting in the mess and was standing up. "Oh shit! There's more than one of them!"

The blonde backed up, swinging the bat in a wide arch around him until he was standing in front of the twins, Honda copying his actions. A second later, something crashed through the window above the sink and Yugi shrieked as glass showered down on them. Yami's eyes widened as the front of his shirt was grabbed and he suddenly found himself shoved inside one of the cabinets.

"YAMI!"

The door was pulled open and Yami found himself looking up at Honda. He peered over his shoulder at Yugi on the ground, and gave a cry of alarm. Jounochi, hearing this, instinctively grabbed Yugi moments before the tile where he had been sitting was smashed into. Jou yelped and swung the bat in front of him. With a loud thunk, it connected, flinging their attacker back into the sink, causing the faucet to break and water to shoot everywhere.

Yami looked to his right and spotted a large bag full of flour. He crawled over to it, ignoring Honda's protests as he tried to keep an eye on him while swinging his umbrella to make sure nothing came near him. He was surprised when Yami tugged on his sleeve and pointed at the flour bag he had pushed over to him.

"Throwit!" Yami commanded. Honda decided not to question the strange order. He picked it up and hurled it across the kitchen. Jounochi, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, reacted instinctively. The baseball bat slammed into the flour bag and white powder exploded everywhere.

"Honda!" Jounochi coughed, "What the hell were you thinking!?" The blonde was bent double, trying not to breathe in the flour that clouded around them. Yugi wheezed against his chest, the chibi's fingers digging into his shirt.

"Yami told me to throw it!" Honda defended himself.

"Why would he want to do an idiotic thing like t–" Jou trailed off the flour began to settle and strange shapes started moving about. He stepped backwards, his shoes crunching glass and splashing in the water that was still running from the broken faucet. "What the?"

"The water! It's making the flour stick to the invisible things!" Honda realized.

Jou grinned. "Great! Now we can kick their asses!" He lunged forward and smashed the bat against one of the flour covered things. The thing stumbled back but another one leapt in front of it and Jou ducked as a claw-like hand, it was hard to tell with the flour, barely missed his head by centimeters.

Honda grabbed Yami by the arm and pulled him out of the cabinet onto the ground. "Come on!" he shouted at Jou before running out of the room with Yami on his heels. The blonde took one last swing at one of the creatures and took off after Honda down the hall.

There was a crash behind them, and a section of the wall exploded into a million pieces. Jou chuckled nervously as he looked back. "Eheheh. . . Kaiba's not going to be too happy about his kitchen when he gets back."

"No shit, Sherlock!" Honda growled at him, making Jou bare his teeth angrily at him.

"Well, look on the bright side: we can blame whatever that thief did on these guys!"

"Jou, that's the stupidest thing I ever heard. Why were even thinking about that in the middle of all this?!"

"Dunno, it just popped up into my head," Jou answered, grinning like an idiot. Honda whacked him over the head with the umbrella, making Jou sputter curse words. Neither of them noticed when Yami stumbled with a small cry and fell to the ground.

* * *

Kaiba strode up the front steps of the Kaiba Mansion, with his brother beside him and his faithful bodyguard trailing behind. As usual, he ignored the security detail that followed him everywhere. Mokuba was chattering happily about the video game he had tested and how terrible it was that Mr. Mutou wound up the hospital again from back pains. Isono opened the door and he stepped through, before freezing.

"What. The. Hell."

"Eh? Nii-sama, what wrong?" Mokuba peered around him before his mouth dropped open. The foyer lay in ruins, like a battle had been fought there. Before he could take another step inside, he spotted whiteness floating in the air. "What's that?" he wondered, pointing towards it. His brother turned to stare at it, narrowing blue eyes at the strange sight. It got closer until it was in front of Kaiba, and part of the whiteness lifted.

"Kaiba, look out!" Jounochi burst out of another room and crashed into Kaiba, knocking him to him ground. Mokuba yelped as a large slash appeared on the door right where his brother's head would have been. Honda ran in a second later, Yugi in one arm and brandishing a battered and worn umbrella in the other.

All of them were covered in splotches of white and were injured all over. It was mostly bruises, but Honda had a cut on one arm, and Jou was limping, blood staining his jeans and dirty white sneakers. Yugi seemed the most unscathed, but he was trembling in fear and Mokuba pulled him out of Honda's arms and rocked him, trying to calm the sobbing chibi down.

"What the hell, Mutt! What do you do to my house!?" Kaiba demanded, shoving Jou off him and dusting flour off himself. "And what the hell are you idiots standing there f–?" The CEO had turned to address his body guards, but they were all collapsed on the stairs, Isono included.

"That's what happened to all your servants," Jou said.

Kaiba growled and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Explain, mongrel!"

Jou pushed him away just as a white thing swung down between them, and the blonde whacked it. "Sure, I'll explain Kaiba, but first!" He grabbed Kaiba by the wrist and took off as more of the white covered things came into the room. "Let's get out of here!" Mokuba yelped in surprise as Honda grabbed him and chased after Jou and his brother.

A few minutes later found them barricading the door of a small, windowless bedroom, panting.

"So what you're telling me is that there are invisible creatures after Yami and Yugi, which only they can see, and you have no idea _what_ they are. You can only tell where they are because Yami had the brilliant idea to douse my wrecked kitchen in flour because they were soaking wet and he knew it would stick to them. On top of that, they seem intent on smashing Yugi to pulp and just now tried to behead me. And oh yes, and you think these things cast a spell that put my entire staff to sleep, but none of us are affected by it for some strange reason. Is that all?" Kaiba asked dryly.

There was a bang on the door and Jou grunted as he pushed back against it with the others. "Yeah, that's about it."

"Wonderful," came Kaiba's sarcastic reply. "Mokuba! Search around and see if you can find anything to use as a weapon."

"Okay!" Mokuba left the barricade and began wandering around the bedroom, trying to find anything useful. He checked under the bed, went through all the drawers in the dresser, and finally came to the small walk-in closet. The sight of boxes greeted him, all stacked up in jumbled up piles. They were all different sizes and colors. The only thing consistent with them all was that they were all rectangles.

"What's all this, Nii-sama?" he asked curiously, looking around the chaotic mess.

"Hell if I know. I might have put them there a long time ago, or it was Gozaburo's doing. Just be careful. If they are Gozaburo's, there's a chance there's a weapon in there somewhere," Seto answered distractedly, with his back still pressed up against the barricade alongside Honda and Jou while Yugi sat at their feet, watching them curiously.

Mokuba shrugged and picked one up carefully and peered inside the lime green box. They were . . . pictures? He didn't bother to look at them and moved on to the other boxes. They held a variety of things ranging from papers, notebooks, toys, cards, books, and videogames. He moved boxes out of his way and spotted a long and thin box.

When he opened it, he was pleased to find an aluminum baseball bat inside. "Aha! I found a baseball bat, big brother!" he crowed, half running, half tripping out of the closet. He would have to go back and explore through the boxes when they weren't in the middle of such a crisis.

Kaiba took the bat from him and stood away from the door, swinging it experimentally. "Hmm. This will do." The door cracked and Kaiba glanced back at it in time to see small splinters of wood fall from the door.

"Kaiba! Get your ass back against this door! They're breaking through!" Jou demanded, shoving harder against the barrier they had made from the chairs and the table in the room.

"Oh back away from there, you baka inu. The door's not to going last much longer. Mokuba, take charge of Yugi. I'll get . . ." Kaiba trailed off, looking around the room.

Mokuba looked curiously at him as he picked up Yugi. "Nii-sama, what's wrong?"

"I haven't seen Yami since we've arrived."

"EH!" chorused Jou and Honda. They leapt away from the door and glanced wildly around the room. With a loud crack, the door was ripped off its hinges and Kaiba leapt forth, swinging the bat.

"YOU IDIOTS! You weren't supposed to back away yet! Argh, that doesn't matter! Come on, we need to find Yami and get out of here," Kaiba growled, snatching Mokuba's wrist with his free hand and racing out of the room, clearing a path with his bat. Honda and Jou ran after him, calling for the CEO to wait for them, swinging their weapons as they went and feeling them smack against the flour covered things.

* * *

Ryou frowned as he stepped out of the car. Just what exactly was Kaiba's security detail and his errand runner, Isono or whoever, doing on the front steps? It looked like they had just stopped where they were and dropped down to take a nap.

He sighed. He had come back to the Kaiba Mansion because Anzu was getting worried when their friends wouldn't answer the phone. The girl had called all their phones and left voice messages, and no one had returned her calls. She had even gone as far as to bully the servant that had driven them to the hospital to call the mansion's land line, but no one had picked up.

Anzu didn't want to leave grandpa by himself, so she had demanded that Ryou went back to check on them. Her excuse was Bakura. If everyone else really _was_ in trouble, the thief needed to be there. Ryou hated how true that statement was.

Ryou frowned again when he realized that the front door was wide open. Bakura hissed something in Egyptian. Before he could blink, Ryou found himself sitting in his soul room and the thief in control. (What's wrong?)

((Magic. The whole mansion is under an enchantment.))

(Magic? Do you think Yami's playing another prank?) Ryou asked curiously, splitting his spirit from Bakura and peering around.

"No . . . this isn't Yami's magic. Someone else cast this spell." The thief nudged one of the unconscious body guards. "Whatever this spell is, it seems to have put all of Kaiba's servants under a deep sleep. We won't be able to wake them. The only way they'll wake up is if the caster lifts the enchantment himself."

(Oh! You mean like Sleeping Beauty!)

((Who the hell is Sleeping Beauty?))

(Ah, never mind.)

"Er, thief-san. Shouldn't you be going inside and checking on your friends? Usually when there's magic involved someone's after the Pharaoh, right?"

"Huh?" Bakura glanced back and saw the driver standing a foot away from the stairs, fidgeting nervously. ((Oh yeah. I forgot about that guy.))

(You better stop him before he comes over here and goes to sleep himself.) Ryou told him, pointing his transparent finger at the driver. (Though I wonder why we weren't affected. And what about the others?)

((Who cares?))

(BAKURA!)

((Alright! Sheesh, you're such a nag.))

The thief glanced over his shoulder at the servant. "Hey you! Stay where you are unless you want to join the slumber party over here," he ordered before he stepped over the slumbering bodies and inside. Briefly ignoring the destroyed state of the place, he focused on trying to find. There was a loud boom somewhere further into the Mansion.

"Found them. They're up on the second floor, to the northeast," the tomb robber commented.

(You can tell that just by the sounds?)

"I _am_ a thief after all," Bakura answered, dashing up the stairs. However, he took a little detour. He soon found Ryou's room and pulled a sword out from under the bed.

Ryou sweat dropped at the sight of it. Under the bed the whole time . . . and he had never noticed. (Where did you _get_ that?)

"Does it matter?" Bakura questioned, running out of the room with Ryou trailing behind him in spirit form. There was another crash, closer this time. Bakura headed towards it, only to nearly collide with Jounochi.

"WATCH IT, MUTT!"

"_You_ watch it, thief!" Jounochi growled before Honda came running around the corner with Mokuba. They crashed right into the other two and they all fell into a pile on the floor. Kaiba ran around the corner then, and barely managed to skid to a stop to avoid adding to the pile.

"GET OFF ME! What the hell are you running from, anyways?" Bakura demanded, whacking Jou on the head with the flat of his blade as he shoved Honda off his legs. Mokuba had already rolled off and was trying to get Yugi, who had bumped his head in the tumble, to stop crying.

"Hell if I know. We can't see them!" Jou said. He picked up a cracked bat that had a chunk of it missing on one side and slash marks all over it. Bakura raised an eyebrow. It looked like he had been using the bat to ward off some type of blade.

Bakura growled under his breath. Blades and unseen assailants . . . . If this was someone trying to get their hands on the Pharaoh or the Millennium Items in order to destroy the earth or become the supreme evil overlord of the world, someone was going to get their ass kicked. _Hard._

_Click. Clack. Scrape._

"What was that?" Bakura asked, before turning around. "Oh . . . that's, well, that's not good."

"So you can see them too. What are they?" Kaiba demanded.

"Jackal Fiends. They're monsters from the Duat. The jackal-headed god, Anubis, created an army of creatures called Jackal Warriors to do his bidding. Some of them went rouge and escaped into the human world. Some powerful magicians managed to round them up and send them back to the Duat, but not before one of them cast a curse on them that forces them to obey the commands of anyone who summons them."

"Great. So how do we get rid of them?" Jou asked.

"I have no idea. The mage that cast the curse was beheaded and the summoning spell was declared forbidden. All copies of that magic should have been destroyed. Hmm. Crafty fellow. Must have written it in a scroll or a tome and hid it away before the Pharaoh's guards came for him."

Kaiba glared at him in annoyance. "I don't care about all that, thief! Just figure out how to get rid of them!"

"Oh shut it, priest. Though I wonder why you can't see it, your past incarnation being Egyptian royalty and all . . ." he mused.

"BAKURA!"

"Eh well, here goes nothing." Bakura lifted his sword and charged at the Jackal Fiends. They growled and leapt at him, their rusted sickles raised to attack. Before any of them could reach him, they vanished into thin air. Bakura ground to a halt, blinking rapidly.

"What are you stopping for?!"

"They're gone . . . ?" Bakura frowned and glanced back at the others, only to notice something. "Where's the Pharaoh?"

Everyone looked at each other, and took off down the hall, yelling the chibi's name. Honda's foot hit the corner of a display table. It fell over with a loud crash, but no turned back to look.

* * *

Yami toddled through the hallways, utterly lost. He kept finding servants lying asleep on the ground. Sometimes he would hear crashes from elsewhere in the mansion. No matter how many hallways he took or doors he opened, he always seemed to get farther away from the sounds.

There was a strange tingling in the air. Some part of his consciousness recognized it as magic. And there was something familiar about it. But he couldn't remember how he knew it. It was nothing like the familiar warmth of his taneen's magic which he could sense the moment he stepped into the house.

He didn't like this magic. He could feel taneen's magic somewhere in the mansion, but he couldn't get to it. The new magic was distorting it. Every time he thought he found his dragon, he wasn't there. And now he couldn't find Mimic or Kuriboh. He couldn't remember when they had disappeared either.

There was a loud crash close by, and he brightened, dashing around the corner towards the sound. He crashed into white cloth covering someone's legs. Two tanned hands appeared in his vision, and he was lifted up into the air. Crimson eyes looked up the face of the familiar stranger.

"Hello my dear, sweet Atemu."

* * *

Yes, I'm afraid I left you with a cliff hanger. I'm sorry! But this is already thirteen pages long and I couldn't drag it out any longer or else it would have progressed to twenty something pages. Well, not really. Maybe fifteen?

Again, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait and I shall try to update sooner. But it will be hard. Between school and no internet, I will have to find a way to get my internet back or find an alternate solution. (I doubt my sister's boyfriend would be happy with me coming over at random times to update my fanfiction.)

Read and Review folks!


	8. Magician's History Lesson

Yay! I've finished this earlier than I expected! It's not as long as the others, but there's some slight humor in here. There's some explanations on some earlier stuff in the story. Hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Cussing.

Disclaimers: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Poor me . . .

* * *

_Chapter Eight: Magician's History Lesson_

* * *

"Yami! Where are you?!"

"Oi! Pharaoh! Quit playing hide and seek!"

"YAMI!"

The sound of pounding feet and the calling of Yami's name was evident in the Kaiba Mansion. They had spilt up into groups, each team staying within earshot of each other. They couldn't risk going off on their own in case the Jackal Fiends were still prowling around. All around the searching teens, servants were starting to awake. None of them seemed to realize what had happened, or understand why parts of the mansion laid in ruins.

"YA–" Kaiba suddenly cut off, and his eyes narrowed as he turned a corner. His posture brought the others running to them, and they skidded to a stop as well. At the other end of the hall, a tanned teen around their age stood, cradling Yami gently in his arms. The chibi's eyes were closed, and he seemed unaware of what was happening around him.

A wild mane of black hair framed the stranger's face. Dark green eyes rimmed with kohl looked up at them from a handsome face marred by the hieroglyphics carved on his left cheek. He was dressed in the traditional white linen robes still worn by the modern natives of Egypt. They could see a hint of gold bracelets on his wrists and gold earrings through his hair. Around his neck was a gold collar.

"Who the hell are you?!" Kaiba demanded with a growl.

The stranger smirked. "Still set on denying your Ancient Egyptian past? Well, no matter, it just makes everything easier for me. Maybe there's no need to kill you after all. Or him, I suppose," the stranger sneered, glancing at Yugi who shrunk down in Mokuba's arms under his gaze.

Jou stepped in front of them protectively. "What the hell do you got against Yugi?"

"He's a pathetic weakling and a mockery of my Atemu. Now if you excuse me, I think we'll be leaving." The stranger brushed his thumb across Yami's cheek and turned his back on them.

"I don't give a fuck what you got against the runt or why you think we're going to let you walk out here with the Pharaoh, but you better hand him over before you get hurt!" Bakura threatened.

"What an odd thing for a thief whose been trying to kill him for over several millennia to say." Green eyes glanced over the stranger's shoulder and froze the thief in his tracks. The stranger's lips curled up with a mocking smirk at the stunned expression on his face. With a growl, Bakura launched himself at the teen and managed to grab the stranger's sleeve. The floor cracked and exploded upwards, forcing Bakura to leap backwards to avoid the debris. When the dust settled, Yami and the teen had vanished.

INSERT LINE BREAK

Half an hour later, the ragged group was sitting at the dining table with miserable looks. Jou was holding an ice pack to his temple, band aids and linen bandages all over his body. Honda had one leg on another chair with an even larger ice pack resting on the ankle he had hit on the table. The only one among them that didn't seem to be any sort of pain was Anzu, who had rushed back to the Mansion once she heard what had happened.

Jii-chan was there too. He was sitting in an awkward position, trying to take pressure off his back and trying to focus on the tome in front of him. He had refused to stay at the hospital after he learned that Yami had been kidnapped. The old man still considered Yami his second grandson.

The scratching of a pen was the only sound in the depressed silence. Kaiba was studying the notes of property damage that Isono kept bringing him and trying to estimate the costs of repairing it all. Sometimes he would mutter in annoyance when he came upon a note that informed him that something he valued had been destroyed.

Ryou was sitting in spirit form in one of the chairs, speaking softly to Yugi, who the only one who could see him other than Bakura. The thief growled each time one of Kaiba's servants came near to treat his wounds.

Ryou didn't scold him for it. He knew his yami felt useless now. He'd let an unknown assailant take Yami right in front of him without giving the other any wounds other than the small scrap of white cloth he'd ripped from his sleeve before the floor exploded. But there seemed to be something else bothering him. Ryou wasn't the only one who noticed . . .

"Bakura, you seem a little . . . upset, about something other than the strangers' escape. Are you sure you don't know who that guy was?" Anzu wondered.

The thief sighed and glanced at the scrap of cloth. "I've never seen him before, and yet he knew who _I_ was. And on his arm . . . when I ripped the sleeve, he had a scar."

"So?" Jou asked, crossing his arms.

"It wasn't a normal scar, it was like mine." Bakura filched a piece of paper from Kaiba's notebook, ignoring the glare, and drew. When he was finished, he held up a drawing of the scar he had on his face in Ancient Egypt. "Remember this? I got this when I was about eleven and I had just stolen from the palace for the first time, and got caught. I was let go because I was still a child, but I got this carved onto my face by the guard who had caught me."

"You mean it was a like a warning? A _"Don't come back and steal from here ever again,"_ sort of thing?" Mokuba asked.

"Yes. But it also warned the other guards that I had committed a crime against the Pharaoh. There were several variations the guards used. Mine means that I'm a thief. That bastard had a different type on his arm." His pen flowed across the page until a new drawing took form next to his.

"And what does this one mean?" Kaiba demanded, taking the sheet of paper and eyeing the drawing critically. Bakura was silent.

[Yami?] Ryou prodded, glancing at his dark.

"It wasn't used very often. I've actually never seen it on a living person before. The other crooks used to say it was the priests who carved it with magic, and it was a permanent mark that would follow you into the Afterlife or even rebirth should you attain it."

"Well, spit it out!" Kaiba growled.

"It meant that . . . someone had committed treason against the royal family. That they had attempted to murder or had murdered someone of royal blood."

Silence reigned in the room as the information hit home. Jou's eyes darkened as he jumped up onto the table and hurled himself at the thief with an angry growl. Unfortunately for him, Bakura was waiting for it. He slipped out of the chair the moment Jou crashed into it, sending the blonde tumbling chair over human across the dining room floor. Before Jou could get up to attack him again, the tomb robber had straddled him, keeping one hand on the back of his head as Jou muttered angry words into the wooden floor.

"Are you going to try to bite me again if you let you up again, Mutt?" Bakura asked, letting the bigger teen raise his head slightly.

"You fucking asshole! You let some guy who tried to kill Yami just take him like that?!"

"I said "someone of royal blood." That doesn't automatically mean that he tried to kill Yami. I've been to the palace several times during the Shadow Wars. I never saw him, which meant he had either been banished or killed before Atemu became Pharaoh."

"Is there a point to this?" Honda muttered, shying away from Bakura's answering glare.

"What I mean is, before Yami took the throne, there would have been four members of the royal family. Pharaoh Aknamkanon, High Priest Akunadin, Seth, and Yami himself. Just because everyone is after him now doesn't mean he was one the bastard tried to kill back then. I doubt he was."

Anzu frowned at him. "Why not? Why else would he want with Yami, if not to kill him or try to take over the world?"

The tomb robber rolled his eyes at her as he got off of Jou. "Are you blind, woman? That green eyed freak wasn't showing an ounce of hatred or malice towards Yami. However, he didn't seem to like Kaiba here one bit, and remember what he called Yugi? This guy seems to have some kind of adoration for the Pharaoh."

"It makes sense," Jii-chan mused, laying down one of the tomes he had been flipping through. "I don't think Yami will come to any harm. But his intentions are questionable. We don't know what he wants with Yami. Why would he wait so long to take Yami? Why hasn't he shown himself before?"

"Maybe he has, and we just didn't realize it," Honda replied lethargically, shifting the ice pack on his swollen ankle. The group blinked at him.

[What about the stalker spirit? Could that have been him?] Ryou said absently, in the midst of playing peek-a-boo with Yugi and making the violet eyed chibi giggle. Bakura's head snapped up at him.

"What is it?" Jou asked.

"The spirit . . . the one who was stalking Yami. Ryou thinks it might be the bastard who took Yami."

"A spirit turning solid? Is that even possible? We've been searching for so long and so far, the only spell that we've found that can give a spirit a human body also turns them into a chibi," Anzu inquired.

"Yeah, but this guy also knew how to summon Jackal Fiends, which is a spell no one's supposed to know. He also knew Yami from the past, and he's the one who placed the sleeping enchantment on the mansion. He's obviously skilled at Ancient Egyptian magic," Bakura pointed out.

"So what do we do now? This guy's got magic and can summon those Jackal thingies, how are we supposed to combat that? We don't even know where he took Yami or what he wants with him. Hell, we don't even know who this freak is! It's not like we can look into a magic crystal ball and find the answers," Jou demanded, wriggling his fingers for emphasis.

Bakura stared at him with an odd look on his face. Blinking, the blonde frowned at him in confusion. "What? Is something on my face?" he asked in bewilderment. The tomb robber's lips curled up into a smirk.

"Maybe a crystal ball won't give us the answers, but I know a certain card that could."

Several minutes later Bakura was flipping through a deck of familiar Duel Monsters' cards. It wasn't until Anzu spotted Jack's Knight land next to Curse of Dragon that she realized that it was Yugi's and Yami's shared deck. Before she could open her mouth to protest the thief's treatment of the cards he let out a triumphant sound and held up a card. The group of teens stared questionably at the Dark Magician he held aloft.

"Oi, come out priest!" Bakura growled at the card.

Nothing happened. The thief narrowed his eyes and started to furiously wave the card, hissing something in Egyptian that Anzu doubted was very pleasant. After a moment of watching the odd scene, Kaiba swung his notebook in annoyance and hit the thief hard in the back of his head. The card fluttered out of his hands onto the table.

"Enough of your damn hocuses pocus! What the hell do you think waving a playing card around is going to accomplish?" the CEO growled, sending one of his trademark glares at the part albino.

Before the thief had a chance to retaliate, shadows burst out of the tabletop before him. A second later, a purple staff slammed down upon his head, announcing the arrival of the Dark Magician, who glared down him, arms crossed.

"OW! What the hell was that for?" Bakura sputtered, sitting up from where he had been knocked to the ground and rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"That was for carelessly throwing Master's cards about and rough handling _my_ card. What do you think you're doing touching my Pharaoh's cards without permission? And . . . where is Master Atemu? He must have summoned me, or else I would not be here." The shadow monster frowned as he looked around the room before a giggle drew his attention to the table. Large violet eyes met his as their owner's chubby fists held on tightly to his card.

"Young master? Last time I checked, you were seventeen going on eighteen. Just what is going on here?" His eyes scanned the room before a dark violet light engulfed him. When it disappeared, a tall tanned teen with long brown hair and dark stormy blue eyes dressed in an ankle length linen tunic stood in his place. The green staff remained, hovering in air next to him.

"Huh? Who're you?!" Jou and Honda chorused, staring at the teen in bewilderment as he raised an eyebrow at them.

"The Dark Magician, of course. This is my human form."

"Duel Monsters have a human form?" Mokuba wondered.

"No, not really. Only those who used to be human. I was a Millennium Priest in Pharaoh Atemu's court. That is, until a certain tomb robber over here caused my death and stole the Millennium Ring from me."

"Hey, you're the one who threw yourself in the trap," Bakura objected.

"You were going to kill me anyways, so shut it, grave digger. The only reason I threw myself in that trap was so I could perform the ritual!"

"Well if you weren't so bloody damn loyal to the baka Pharaoh you wouldn't have had to perform the damn ritual!"

"How dare you insult my Pharaoh!"

"I'll insult him as I please!"

Back and forth their argument went. With each word, their voices rose in volume until it escalated into a shouting match in Ancient Egyptian, leaving everyone else at loss what they were saying. The small group was watching the exchange back and forth like it was a tennis match. There were even a few of Kaiba's servants peering curiously into the room, drawn by the raised voices and wondering where the new addition to the group dressed in strange white clothing had come from.

At one end of the table, a vein was starting to throb in Seto Kaiba's temple. A fist slammed down onto the table. "WOULD YOU SHUT IT!?" Kaiba's voice cut through the pair's bickering. Silence reigned in the room as all eyes stared at him. "Now sit," he commanded with a growl, "And I don't want to hear another word about who dragged whose mummy into the throne room or any more of that bullshit."

Shocked to the point of numbness, the two ancient rivals sat down without a word, leaving a few chairs to create a space between them. Ryou, still in spiritual form and sitting in one of the chairs between the two, suddenly felt like he was caught between two very dangerous wild animals. Yugi was as cheerful as ever as he climbed into Mahaddo's lap and demanded the Shadow Monster's attention. Mahaddo gladly fulfilled the silent demand.

Kaiba sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose before casting a glance to his eavesdropping staff. "Leave. Before you find yourself escorted off the estate permanently." They were gone before their boss had even completed his calmly spoken threat.

Once he had confirmed that they were gone, he turned back to the rest of the silently waiting group. "Thief. You are going to explain to Mahaddo what has happened and why you attempted to summon him."

His eyes shifted to the former priest. "You. You are going to listen without interruption and tell us what you know concerning what the tomb robber has told you. If one word comes out of either of your mouths that even _resembles_ your earlier conversation, we're going to learn if I can really summon my Blue Eyes White Dragon and _she_ can deal with you. Is that understood?" Kaiba demanded softly, ice blue eyes piercing into the other two. They nodded numbly.

It took almost fifteen minutes for Bakura to explain everything that had happened to them, starting with Yami and Yugi getting turned into chibis to the first appearance of the stalker spirit, Yami's mother, and finally, the teen that had kidnapped Yami and sent Jackal Fiends after them.

Mahaddo sent pensive as he mulled over the information he had been given, although his tanned face had turned a bit pale at the mention of the teen. The group sat staring at him expectantly. Before he could say anything there was a knock on the door. Everyone turned and found Isono standing there with an odd look on his face. Beside him was one of Kaiba's maids, holding a broom.

"Uh, sir? We weren't sure what it was or if it was safe to touch so we just . . . pushed it here with the broom," Isono explained.

"It" was a glowing green ball of energy hovering in the air and being kept in one place by the end of the broom handle. Two small and oddly shapes could be seen trapped inside it. Through the green substance it was hard to tell what it was or even what color the things were. It wasn't until they heard a rather frustrated _Kuri_ sound that they realized that Kuriboh was trapped inside.

Mahaddo sighed and pointed his staff at the energy ball and muttered something in Egyptian. Violet hieroglyphics glowed around it before the energy dissipated and Kuriboh plopped to the ground and bounced softly feet before he managed to get airborne again. Yami's Ka caught sight of Mahaddo and he cooed before drifting over and snuggling down into his fellow Shadow Monster's lap.

Similarly, Mimic had fallen to the ground and rolled head over tail with a faint squeak. He righted himself with a fluff of his wings and shake of his head. He snorted, and a small patch of Kaiba's carpet was singed. Isono paled at the sight of smoke curling up from the burnt spot. The dragon peered around before launching into the air and settling himself on the back of Kaiba's chair.

Mahaddo raised an eyebrow at the dragon that pointedly ignored him to preen his left wing. The magician was tempted trap him back in the energy sphere. Kuriboh's coos brought him out of his thoughts as the small ball of fluff called his attention to the familiar necklace held gently in his claws.

"The Queen's sibling necklace," he murmured softly.

"So it _was_ the Queen's," Bakura commented, overhearing the magician.

"Yes. Her father was a craftsman, and he made these two necklaces and a puzzle box as a wedding gift to her and her new husband, the Pharaoh. Later, after the Crown Prince was born, Pharaoh Aknamkanon handed his necklace to Atemu and the Queen gave him the puzzle box. The necklaces have magical amulets that protected the wearers and kept a loose connection between them. That way, the Queen would always know if her son was in danger or not."

"That's nice, now can you skip this and go on to the teen to who kidnapped Yami?" Kaiba asked impatiently, making Mokuba shoot him a mock glare at his rudeness.

"Very well. His name is Kamenwati. He's Master's half-brother. He was born about two months before Atemu was, from a foreign princess given to Aknamkanon as a peace treaty, who he only bedded out of respect for the foreign king. Soon after that, Aknamkanon met Halima, Yami's mother, at a festival. She was a dancer and he fell for her graceful movements. He courted her, and soon after that, took her as his wife and Queen."

"So he just abandoned the foreign princess and her child because he fell in love with a dancer?" Mokuba asked. "That seems kind of harsh."

"It wasn't until after the marriage and coronation that Pharaoh learned she was pregnant. He treated her well, but he refused to take on a second wife. The princess died of an illness soon after giving birth, but because Aknamkanon hadn't taken her as a wife, Kamenwati was considered an illegitimate child. Aknamkanon made sure he was well cared for and educated, but Kamenwati was virtually invisible to him."

"But Bakura said he was affectionate towards Yami. If the Pharaoh hadn't fallen in love with Halima, he would have been the Crown Prince. So wouldn't he have had a grudge against him?" Anzu reasoned.

"That would be the typical reaction yes, but I'm sure you know as well as I do that anything concerning Atemu isn't typical," Mahaddo answered, smiling. The rest of the group nodded, and Bakura rolled his eyes at the statement, making Ryou poke his transparent finger into his side and warn him to be nice.

"As an illegitimate of the Pharaoh, he was considered unimportant. Other than his few servants, he grew up mostly alone, isolated from the rest of the palace. Atemu came across him in the gardens after sneaking away from a lesson. At the time, neither had known who the other was, and they had become fast friends. Atemu was the first person to show Kamenwati true kindness, and Kamenwati loved him dearly, even after he learned he was the Crown Prince."

"What about the brand mark? Who'd he try to send to the Duat?" Bakura interrupted, picking up the paper he had drawn the scar on and waggling it in the former priest's face for emphasis. Ryou suspected it was just to annoy the magician, and it was working. Mahaddo scowled at the thief and snatched the paper away.

"I'm getting there! You see, as they got older, Atemu began getting more lessons and more responsibly. They didn't spend as much time together as they used to, but they still saw each other at least once every day. Once Atemu hit puberty, he started getting . . . distracted by another. The sparse moments Kamenwati got to spend to Atemu were lessened even further. At first, Kamenwati had merely thought Atemu was attending to some princely obligation, but he followed Atemu one night."

"And saw Atemu screwing around with his stick-up-his-ass cousin," Bakura interrupted. "So he tried to off the bastard priest, but he got caught, branded, and kicked out of the kingdom," the thief finished, leaning back in his chair and resting his feet on the table. Kaiba threw an icy glare at him, but he shrugged it away with a smirk.

All eyes turned to Mahaddo. The magician hesitated, momentarily floored by the modern phases the thief had used, and then he sighed. "Basically, yes. Normally, as Seth was the son of Pharaoh Aknamkanon's brother and the future High Priest, Kamenwati should have been beheaded for the attempted murder. Instead, Atemu spared his life, and sentenced him to exile under pain of death should he ever return to the kingdom."

The silence of the group was only broken by a sniffle. They turned in bewilderment to find the maid and Isono still standing in the doorway. The maid had a handkerchief and was blowing her nose into it. "Oh, that's so sad. He was so lonely and Atemu helped him, but he was forced to banish him in the end."

Kaiba scoffed, and stroked Mimic's head. The miniature Blue Eyes had curled up on his shoulders at some point during the discussion. Although he appeared to be asleep, Kaiba had the feeling that he was wide awake and listening closely to every word. "Sad? He was pathetic. A child throwing a fit over a toy taken from him."

Mahaddo stifled a laugh. "How ironic. That's the same thing _he_ said. Oh wait, I forgot, you _are_ Seth," the magician smirked smugly at the CEO who was glaring daggers at him.

"For the last time, I am not some ancient priest from three thousand years ago! …And just what is it that you find so hilarious, thief?!" he snarled, turning his glare onto the howling albino.

"Oh nothing. Just the fact that the idiot here was speaking Egyptian and you spoke it right back to him, and the fact that you understand me even now." Bakura grinned widely as Kaiba gathered up his things and stormed out of the room, muttering about stupid thieves and nonsense stories with Mimic still on his shoulders.

Mahaddo watched him leave before turning slowly towards the thief and eyeing him with a glower. "Now just who are you calling an idiot?"

* * *

I wish I could have written more of Mahaddo's and Bakura's arguement, but if I had, the chapter would have gone on for pages and I'd never get to the point. Those two have personalities that will clash no matter what situation you put them in. It's so much fun writing it!

*Duat - Egyptian Underworld.

*Kamenwati - Means "Dark Rebel" in AE. I thought it suited him.

*Seth - I'm using it as Seto's past name because "Seto" is Japanese and would not have existed in Ancient Egypt. _(Actually, the letter 'O' didn't exist at all in their language, although they do have some gods that have the letter 'O' in them. But that's because they were adopted from other cultures over the years as the result of being conquered and conqueroring their neighbors, and it was pronounced as 'uh' instead of 'oh'. Take for example, the god Osiris. Instead of saying Oh-siris, it's pronounced Uh-siris.")_ Um, anyways, using Seth makes who I'm talking about less confusing. Plus, even if it is the same reincarnated soul, I _really_ doubt they would have the same name as their past self.

*And one more thing. Remember when I told you "Bennu" was a name meaning "eagle" and not the Egyptian name for phoenix? Well, it turns out that although "Bennu" really does mean "eagle in their language, but it was also used to refer to the phoenix. What happened was that Arabian traders came bearing tales of the phoenix, and since the Egyptians didn't have a name for it in their language, they called it the _"bennu bird." _Interesting isn't it?

Now then, please review and tell me what you thought.


End file.
